A Wish Come True
by Taramoor
Summary: A simple act of kindness results in an unprecedented opportunity for Akane Tendo, as the Goddess Urd agrees to grant her wish. What would you do if you could change the world? What would you do if you couldn't change it back?
1. Chapter 1: With this Ring

A Wish Come True: A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction (With Urd) By Brian 

Part 1: With this ring...

Akane Tendo sat by the water's edge, the park near her home providing some form of solace. Absently, she picked up a flat rock and skipped it across the surface. She watched the ripples, almost hypnotic in their regularity.

_Ranma. Damnit._

Akane stared out across the lake. The silence was overwhelming, and she wanted nothing more than to just become of part of it. To calm herself, for once. That was the one thing she hadn't been, in the entire range of emotions from love to hate. She run the gamut but hadn't once felt peace since Ranma's arrival at the dojo. She hadn't felt it very often before he'd shown up, but it had still been there, on occasion. Now she never felt it. Always something went wrong, always fate intervened, always someone or something came between them.

This latest incident hadn't been anything special, or at least it shouldn't have been. _So some stupid magical powersuit picks me as its chosen martial artist, that doesn't mean you have to go off on some ego-trip just because you're no longer the best. I offered to give it up when you called me cute, but that was just a lie, wasn't it? You couldn't stand me being better than you_.

She hadn't actually been better, of course, it was just the suit giving her a power boost, and she knew that. It hadn't been fair to beat up on Ranma like that. Fun, yes, but she hadn't actually beaten him. Then he had to go and make it personal.

Standing up, Akane took a deep breath and began the long walk back toward the dojo. Where Ranma waited with, undoubtedly, every problem in her life, but she wasn't sure that she could live without the constant bickering, the multiple fiancees, Nabiki's money-grubbing ways, or even continuously beating on Kuno. She tried imagining her life without these things, it just didn't feel right. After being a participant for so long, to be a spectator, or to have it entirely absent, would just be wrong.

She was Akane Tendo, the one true fiancee to Ranma Saotome, and she wasn't about to let that slip away. A sane life was not what she needed or what she truly desired.

As the short-haired girl walked, she spotted a young couple sitting at the water's edge, just enjoying being with each other. Both looked extraordinarily nervous. One, a college boy from the look of him, kept sending nervous glances toward the other, a foreign woman who, Akane had to admit, reminded her of Kasumi. The woman's only response to anything the young man did was to blush and look down at her feet. The man stopped walking and the woman continued on, staring at her feet. Keichii, Akane had caught his name while eavesdropping, just hung his head in despair.

"Why can't I just tell her?" He asked himself. The quiet desperation in his voice reminded her of Ryoga for some reason. Her own friendly nature getting the best of her, Akane couldn't help but answer him.

"I give up, why not?" Keichii jumped almost a five feet in the air, impressive, for someone so obviously a non-combatant.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Akane Tendo, and you haven't answered my question." She laughed lightly at his nervousness. The poor guy was obviously a wreck where this girl was involved.

Keichii seemed to accept this as a fitting response, if she could help him with his love life, it didn't really matter who she was.

"Because I don't think she feels the same way. How could she, I mean, I'm just a normal guy, and Belldandy's well... she's Belldandy"

"She feels the same way. Didn't you notice how much she was blushing whenever she looked at you, or whenever she caught you looking at her?"

"Do you really think so?"

"Of course I do, it's the truth. Sometimes things like this are just more visible to people on the outside." She gave him a pat on the back and pointed him in the direction of Belldandy. Who had stopped to wait for him, far enough away that she couldn't hear what was being said. She was watching him talk to Akane, and appeared somewhat apprehensive at the short-haired girl's proximity.

Leaning close, Akane whispered a few lines of poetry from Ms. Hinako's class into Keichii's ear. If Akane was any judge of character, Belldandy was just the kind of girl that would appreciate something like that.

"I hope you're right about this"

"Of course I am"

With that, Keichii walked off. Akane watched as he caught up with Belldandy and began to sputter out the cheesy lines. She turned to leave but found herself face to chest with a very tan, very slim, very tall, very well-built, and very Gorgeous woman with platinum-blond hair spilling down past her shoulders. Akane didn't notice the woman's clothes past a sub-conscious level, probably because they gave the illusion of not being there at all.

"I would've bet anything that that wouldn't work."

Akane squeaked and jumped back, slightly startled at the woman's sudden appearance.

"Sorry to startle you Akane-chan."

"You know my name?"

"Of course I know your name."

"How?"

The woman looked slightly caught off-guard by the question. "Um, I heard you talking to Keichii just now. I must've heard it then"

"Oh, okay, are you a friend of his?"

"Yeah, I've been trying to get him and Belldandy together for awhile now."

Urd made a dismissive sound at the look on at Akane's face. "No, no, nothing like that, I'm just surprised that you were able to do something I couldn't. Come, Akane-chan, walk with me. We'll leave the lovebirds alone."

"Did you ever try what I just did?"

"Well, my approach has always been a bit more, physical, or metaphysical, depending on how you look at it"

Akane gave Urd a confused look, which became disapproving. "Well, fate likes to mess with people who use love potions and such." Thoughts of a certain Amazon filled Akane's mind, for some reason coincedence had always intervened when Shampoo tried something like that, often causing them to backfire. She quashed a memory of Ryoga doing something similar.

"Oh, do you know her well?"

"Huh?"

Urd caught herself before she could slip again, "Ahem, I mean, do you have experience with this sort of thing?"

"More than I would like."

"Well, I'll tell you what kiddo, for taking away my matchmaking game by getting Keichii and Bell together. I'll do you one back."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, have you ever had a wish, or maybe an unfulfilled dream? Something that seemed completely unattainable by normal means? Maybe there's an unrequited love in your life."

Akane nodded. The knowing look she was recieving from the white-haired woman would've been unnerving if she hadn't been so eerily correct.

"Well, let's just say that I might be able to make that wish come true."

Akane chuckled lightly at the prospect. "Is that a promise?"

"Of course." And, caught up in the moment, Urd shook Akane's hand. When she was done, her mind finally caught up with her, and it took all of her divine willpower to keep from punching herself in the head.

"Um, Akane, now that I think about it, maybe this isn't..." A bolt of energy struck the grass near Urd, leaving writing in its wake, it was in the divine language. Reading 'Dear Urd, A promise is a promise is a promise is a promise, ha ha ha ha ha. Skuld'

"Um, what does that say?"

"Nothing of importance, Akane-chan, now as I was saying.." Another bolt struck the ground, this time leaving Kanji in its wake, with a message the same as the previous one, and Akane read it aloud. "...ha ha ha ha ha, Skuld. Um, are these for you?"

Urd nodded her head.

"Then that would make you Urd right?"

She nodded again.

"What exactly does this mean?" Having experienced more than enough weirdness in the last year, she was not about to dismiss this as an elaborate practical joke. More than likely, she'd just gotten involved in something she was sure to regret tomorrow.

"Perhaps I should explain. Akane-chan, I'm a goddess." The look Urd received from Akane said in no uncertain terms what she thought of that statement. "I'm serious, Akane-chan. When a goddess grants a wish, it comes in the form of a contract. Written, fulfilled, and stored, in heaven. For a goddess, a promise and a wish are the same thing. When I made that agreement just now, it had the same effect as me making a contract with you. I cannot break it, and I have to fulfill it to the best of my ability, and as goddess of the past, that's quite an ability. I do not know what the wish was exactly, as I do not know exactly how the contract was worded, I have to get to a phone before I can find that out."

"Why's that?"

"I have to call my father."

"You mean?"

"Yes, and I think we should use the phone at your house."

"Why?"

"I think Keichii and Bell may want to be alone." Urd gave a wink and a crooked grin. Akane blushed.

---

The streets of Nerima weren't as active as they usually were, so Akane took the time to explain to Urd her current situation with Ranma. Yes, she got mad at him occasionally, and yes, he teased her far too much, but he was her fiancee, and she was engaged to him. They'd both fought for that engagement often enough that Akane was sure neither of them wanted that to change. To the goddess at hand, the short-haired girl's feelings were an open book. Luckily, Urd didn't read aloud.

Walking with the self-professed Goddess of Love to the dojo proved to be an interesting experience. The males that they passed on the street nearly passed out from loss of blood, and the females were simply glaring daggers, knives, and other sharp objects at the both of them. Urd didn't seem to notice, but Akane did, and the red on her face proved it.

"Um, Urd?"

"Yes, Akane-chan."

"Why do you wear clothes like that?"

"Because they feel so good, and the looks that I get from the guys really make it worth it." The goddess favored a nearby street vendor with a wink. He passed out.

"Oh."

As they neared the dojo, Akane spotted a familiar bandoliered girl, mentally noting that Ukyo's giant spatula was absent.

"Hi, Ukyo." Akane's waved to her sometimes friend.

"Hey, Akane-chan. Who's your friend?" Giving the Goddess a quick glance with her eyes, Ukyo found herself unable to form a quick opinion of the strange woman.

"Ukyo Kuonji, meet Urd. Urd, meet Ukyo Kuonji."

"Urd, that's kind of a strange name... sounds Norwegian or something"

"It is."

"Oh, I guess that explains it then. Sorry Urd-san, but I'm in a hurry. Akane have you seen Ranchan today?"

Akane replied in the negative. After they'd sold the battlesuit to a secondhand store, she'd asked Ranma if he could have some time to herself. He hadn't been happy about it, but he'd given her some space for the last couple of days. He could be considerate that way, even if it was infuriating.

"Oh well, maybe I'll just wait here with you and your friend until he shows up. So Urd, what's your business here at the Tendo's?" Ukyo's experience was that guests at the Tendo home were there to either take Ranma or force him on Akane. Either one was bad.

"How'd you know I was going to the Tendo's?"

"You're with Akane, and you are headed in this general direction. It doesn't take a Nabiki to figure this one out."

Urd smiled at the chestnut-haired girl, her aura was teeming with lovesick desperation. This town was obviously a goldmine of some kind. "I'm here to help Akane-chan with something. It's my job, you see."

"And what job is that?"

"Relationship counselor." It wasn't exactly a lie, and she'd used that description for her work before, so it rolled off the Goddess' tongue without difficulty.

"I see." The chef pursed her lips in thought. "Urd-san, if I could have a word with you."

"Of course, Ukyo-chan."

Ukyo walked a few feet away with Urd, giving a backward glance to assure herself that Akane wouldn't eavesdrop. "Ahem, Urd-san. When you say 'relationship counselor' whose relationship do you mean exactly? There are quite a few unrequited loves in Nerima." Ukyo paused to frown at this. "So whose relationship are you going to counsel? You aren't trying to get Ranchan and Akane closer together are you?"

A lecherous grin split Urd's face. "Why would that be any of your business, Ukyo-chan? Do you have a crush on Akane's fiancee?"

Ranma's cute fiancee resisted the urge to slap the bronze-skinned woman. "Didn't you know? Akane and I are both engaged to Ranma." The look of surprise on Urd's face betrayed her, and Ukyo shook her head sadly. "You didn't know. Look, there are a lot of people here who would object to Ranchan making the wrong decision, and I think Akane has more options than she realizes. So maybe you'll decide to just let things go on as they are?"

Urd directed a level gaze at the intense young woman. "Ukyo-chan, I make it a point in my business not to break people up when they're in love, okay? I would never do that."

The cook sighed, looking over the Goddess' shoulder at Akane. The short-haired girl looked pensive as she shuffled her feet in the background.

"Thanks, Urd-san, that's good to know."

"You're welcome Ukyo-chan."

With that, Ukyo headed toward her restaurant, and Urd walked back toward Akane, who seemed more than a little nervous at the friendly conversation that the goddess had just shared with her rival. "So what were you two talking about?" Akane suddenly found her hands very fascinating.

"Not much, Akane-chan. Ukyo seems to be a nice girl, very sharp. She makes a convincing boy. So, which way to the phone?"

Urd laughed coquettishly and gestured for the youngest Tendo to lead the way. Akane found herself laughing along with the Goddess as they went inside.

---

"I have to what? Why? Why can't I just fulfill it like a normal one?"

Belldandy's voice was gentle, yet firm, on the other end of the phone, as Kami-sama was indisposed at the moment. "Urd... You made the agreement without the proper clearance. While Akane Tendo is a good, kind, and self-sacrificing person, she would not have received a wish if not for you, very few people do, and the way it was worded makes this the most logical solution. This way she can fulfill it in her own time and you won't have to worry about interfering in her life any longer than you have to."

"But what if I-"

"Let me rephrase, Father won't have to worry about you interfering in her life any longer than you have to."

The Norn of the Past sighed, relenting in the face of her sister's resolve. "Okay, Belldandy."

"Good, now go about your business, and Urd?"

"Yes, Belldandy?"

"Thank Akane for me. What she had Keichii say was really very sweet." Crystalline laughter floated from the reciever in Urd's hands.

Hanging up the phone, Urd looked around at the walls of the Tendo household. Had she not known better, she would've assumed that this was where Belldandy was living with Keichii. She had only spent a few minutes inside so far, so she had yet to met any of its unique residents. Akane had shown her where the phone was and gone upstairs to take a nice long soak in her furo. Leaving Urd by herself in an unknown house, with a request handed down from Kami-sama Himself which left her waiting until Akane finished in the bath to grant a wish.

Urd wandered into the kitchen, thinking she had heard a familiar song. To find that she had heard a familiar song, it was Belldandy's cooking song, and Belldandy's voice. But it was not Belldandy. It was a girl with brown hair, hanging over one shoulder, and tied with a yellow ribbon.

"Oh, hello, I'm Kasumi Tendo, no one told me that we had a guest. It is very nice to meet you Miss..."

"Urd."

"Ah, it is very nice to meet you Ms. Urd. If you will excuse me, I'm afraid I must finish cooking dinner" Urd looked closely, it could just be a very basic disguise spell, but that was not Belldandy's style. Or maybe Belldandy was trying to trick her into thinking that it wasn't her when really it was her. _Wait a minute, maybe it isn't really Belldandy but Belldandy cast on spell on this girl that makes her act just like Belldandy so that I would think that Belldandy wasn't playing a trick on me when really she..._ Urd derailed that train of thought before her head began to hurt too much.

_Maybe I'll just go sit by the pond and wait for Akane._

---

Akane was in the furo, mulling over the last couple hours, She had just met a goddess, and apparently been granted a wish without even realizing it.

_I wonder what my wish was?_

The thought that she had unwittingly wasted a wish did not sit well with her at all. Akane stepped out of the bath, grabbing a towel off the rack and folding it around her at her armpits as she walked and opened the door to the changing room. She found herself face-to-face with a naked red haired girl with a pig-tail.

---

_How did Akane throw her voice like that?_

Urd was sitting by the rocks on the pond when there was a large splash and she found herself covered with water. Her clothes, which had been clingy before, were now both clingy and transparent.

The only person Urd could find to blame was the red-head stepping out of the pond.

"Did you jump in there for a reason, youngling?"

The pig-tailed girl rose turned an indignant glare on the stranger. "Hey! it's not my fault that tomboy is...?" Her eyes rolled up in her head and she fell flat on her back when the nosebleed started. Urd's attire, and general aura of rampant sensuality, apparently did not mesh well with Ranma's rather naive sensibilities.

A lecherous grin found it's way on the love goddess' face. "This could be fun."

A steaming, and now dressed, Akane, tore her way out of the house.

"Where is that pervert? Ranma? Ranma! Get over here!"

"Akane-chan, do you mean her?"

Akane looked over by the pond at the scantily clad goddess who was kneeling over Ranma-chan, snapping her fingers over the martial-artist's eyes.

"What happened to him?"

"Him? Akane-chan, I may not know technology, but I know the difference between a boy and a girl, and this is most definitely a female."

"You're a goddess, read his mind."

Urd frowned, "I'm not exactly allowed to do that Akane-chan, unless the person has earned a wish or something similar..."

"Well that's good"

"But if you insist, a simple probing spell should be sufficient." The goddess concentrated for just a moment. When a look of comprehension came on her face. "Oooh. A Jusenkyo curse huh? Poor guy."

It was at this time that Akane finally noticed Ranma's nosebleed, and Urd's attire. "Would you mind changing into something a little bit less flattering Urd? Or at least drying off? I told you before, my fiancee is a pervert."

"Of course I don't mind, Akane-chan." Urd snapped her finger and was suddenly in a dry and well fitting business suit. "This better?"

Akane boggled at the Goddess' sudden shift in attire. "I wish I could do that."

Urd's eyes widened. "Careful about your words, Akane-chan."

The short-haired girl blushed hotly. "Wow, that could've been awkward."

She shook the frightening thought from her mind. "I've got to get this jerk inside. Then we can talk about my wish."

"Oh, right, of course." _I hope you can forgive me for this when you find out Akane-chan._

---

With Ranma safely dried off and placed on a futon in the living room, Akane rounded on Urd and confronted the goddess with an almost predatory look.

"So? What happened, how'd the phone call go? What's my wish?" Akane had already accepted the bizarre notion, and was now positively giddy with anticipation.

Urd looked at Akane rather sadly as she reached into her blouse and removed a ring. It was a small band of solid gold, completely unremarkable in every way. Urd turned it like a coin in her hand and flipped it to Akane.

"Here."

"What's this?"

"Your wish." Urd continued at the befuddled look on Akane's face. "Wear that ring on your right hand. Say 'I wish' and presto, wish granted. It will be charged one day after I leave, my father says that that way you'll have time to think about what you want. It will return to me when you've made your wish."

"Um, okay. I think I can handle that."

Examining the prone redhead in the middle of the floor, Urd directed a small smirk at Akane. "You know, for as many times as you called him an idiot, you sure take good care of him."

Akane blushed.

Chuckling, Urd turned towards the television and grabbed hold inside the screen with one hand, sliding one of her feet inside as well. Halfway in, she turned back to the youngest Tendo. "Akane, take this." Urd handed her a small business card. "It's the phone number of the temple I'll be staying at in case you need help."

The goddess vanished into the television, leaving a giddy Akane behind.

"I get a wish, I get a wish." A giddy laugh bubbled out of her as she pranced about in triumph. Subconciously checking Ranma to make certain he was okay, Akane slipped the card into her pocket and the ring onto her right hand, running up the stairs to her room.

Ranma sat up a couple of seconds later.

"What the hell...? Why's the tv glowing? Oh, it stopped. Akane must've hit me harder than I thought." The despondent red-head trudged her way upstairs to try and sleep it off. Thoughts of strange platinum haired women running rampant in her head.

---

The next morning Akane woke up, and much to her dismay, discovered herself still in her clothes. She frantically reached for her hand and found the reassuring weight of the small golden band she'd recieved yesterday.

_My very own wish. I wonder what I should wish for?_ The thought of having practically anything she wanted was a weighty one. A plethora of ideas passed through her mind, but all were dismissed as either flights of fancy or,in her own opinion, rather childish. If she was going to recieve a wish, it needed to really count for something.

_ World peace, maybe?_

Akane made her way to the bathroom to find it empty, where usually she would encounter a naked Ranma. _Ah, things are changing for the better. _

The sounds of battle made their way in from outside, ruining Akane's perfectly good mood.

Removing her clothes for a lightning fast scrub, Akane made certain to keep the ring on, and not to drop it when she was soaping her hands.

Making quick work of her hair and the rest of her body. the short-haired girl fled before a certain pig-tailed martial artist could appear as he seemed to have a habit of doing.

---

Downstairs, Ranma and his father were engaged in a war over the rice and broiled fish.

"Will you two just knock it off? It's just food, you don't need to war over it."

"Jeez, Akane, what's gotten into you. You never seemed to mind me and pop quite that much before."

"Yeah, well, I got tired of it, scoot over." Ranma reluctantly complied with her wishes to give her a little bit more room at the table.

"Yo, Akane?"

"What, Ranma?"

"Where'd you get the ring?"

"What ring?"

"Sis, I believe Ranma is referring to the twenty-four karat gold ring on the fourth finger of your right hand."

Akane removed her hand from Nabiki's grasp, and then seized the jeweler's loupe that her sister was using. "It was a gift from a friend, leave me alone Nabiki."

She suddenly became conscious of Ranma's intense gaze. "And stop pestering me, pervert." With a playful smack to the back of his head, Akane returned to her meal.

Ranma's eyes followed the tiny band on his fiancee's finger, for some reason he couldn't quite identify its presence really bothered him.

Soun immediately burst into tears. "My daughter is engaged to someone and it isn't her fiancee!"

"Foolish boy! Your horrible treatment of Akane has sent her into the arms of another man. This is all your fault!"

"Now wait a second pop, this isn't my fault at all, is it, Akane? Akane?" All the response he got was the slamming of a door. "Crap, I'm late for school old man, I gotta go." Ranma burst out of the house, backpack in hand, leaving a trail of dust behind him.

---

Jogging along the fence, it wasn't long before Ranma caught sight of Akane running at her usual breakneck pace toward Furinkan.

"Yo! Akane!" She ignored him.

"Akane what's... oh hell."

Ranma increased his speed just enough so that he could catch up to Akane.

When he did she took no notice of his presence.

"C'mon Akane, it's too early to be mad at me, I haven't done anything wrong yet."

The short-haired girl scoffed at her betrothed. "So you admit that you're going to do something later is that it? Huh?" She was baiting him now, and they both knew it. That was part of the fun.

"No Akane, that's not what I meant it's just that..."

"What Ranma?"

"You seemed so pissed off today, what'd I do?"

She sighed at the obvious concern he was emitting. Why did he have to be so cute when he was worried about her, it made staying mad at him that much harder. "You didn't do anything Ranma, I'm just nervous, that's all."

"Oh, about what? There a math test or something today."

"I just have to make a decision today and it could affect alot of people. I don't want to blow it"

Ranma didn't like the sound of that at all. Whenever a serious decision was brought up like this it usually involved their engagement. "Well, I can take your mind off it, if you want."

"How can you do that?"

"Why should I tell a tomboy like you? You're uncute, unsexy, violent, and I've seen five year-old girl's with bigger chests than yours."

"Ranma!" Akane leapt onto the fence, swinging her bookbag and chasing Ranma toward the schoolyard. When they passed through the gates. Ranma sidestepped an axe kick from his fiancee and allowed her heel to impact on the face of Tatewaki Kuno. Akane didn't notice as she whirled to face the pig-tailed boy.

"So Akane, still nervous?"

"Why you I... um... no."

"Then it worked." He tapped her on the forehead. "Gotcha."

Akane attempted to harness the rage she normally directed at her fiancee, but found herself laughing along with him as they headed into the building.

---

"...just had to make us late didn't you. No, I can't be on time, not the great Ranma Saotome. Oh nooo. Now here we are in the hallway holding buckets, we're lucky Miss Hinako didn't drain us"

"Look Akane, it wasn't my fault, I'm not the one who had to chase me through the halls for half an hour. Besides, Hinako likes you, she's never drained you before and something tells me she's not about to start"

"Oh, so it's my fault now is it? I can't believe you, you're always blaming other people for everything that goes wrong in your life. You're just like your dad"

"Now that was uncalled for."

"What're you going to do, Ranma?" She taunted him expectantly, grinning at the pig-tailed boy.

Ranma just sighed in response. The silence that filled the air between the two was almost tangible.

"Ranma?" Again, silence. The smile vanished from Akane's face as she realized she'd crossed a line that time. "Ranma, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. You're nothing like your father." Truthfully, Akane didn't have anything against Genma Saotome, but she knew and understood that Ranma's opinion of him was not the highest.

"It's okay Akane, I know you didn't mean it."

---

Lunchtime rolled around and, as was often the case, Ranma found himself confronted by a horde of would-be suitors. All of whom had food that could be considered untrustworthy, except one.

"Ranma-sama, I made this just for you. I promise you'll love me for it. Please, it will only take one bite." Not that one.

"Get away from me you crazy chick."

"Airen! Shampoo bring you special ramen. Now you eat, and then take Shampoo to date yes?" Probably not that one either.

"AAAAHHHH"

Shampoo and Kodachi were separated from the activity of stuffing Ranma's face by a wall of slate-grey metal "You girls had best stay away from my Ranchan."

"Ah, so the pancake prostitute wishes to confront the Black Rose does she? I accept your challenge." Kodachi began twirling her ribbon at an ever increasing speed, but was caught off guard when it was trimmed cleanly at the handle by a thrown spatula. The haft itself was used to block a few more projectiles.

"Very well, spatula slinging slut. I shall confront you another day." A mad laugh, a shower of black rose petals, and the psychotic female Kuno was gone.

Ukyo breathed a sigh of relief. Then turned on the purple-haired amazon.

"Shampoo no be as easy to beat as insane black lotus girl." Shampoo twirled her Bonbori and assumed a defensive stance, waiting for her rival to attack.

Ukyo swung her spatula in a downward arc, which Shampoo easily sidestepped. Ukyo's aim proved true, the oversized cooking utensil cracking a water sprinkler buried in the grass. A brief torrent of cold liquid coated the purple-haired Amazon, and she felt her world grow larger. As the now transformed Shampoo struggled out of her clothing, Ukyo grabbed the small pink feline by the scruff of its neck, holding it in a position to stare into her eyes.

"Go home, Shampoo," she said with stonefaced intensity.

The cat nodded, but hissed to indicate that she would see the chef another day. As the cursed Amazon vanished from the schoolyard, Ukyo sat down on the grass next to her best friend and fiancee. "So, Ranchan, where were you yesterday? You didn't stop by for your free okonomiyaki."

"Oh, jeez, I'm sorry, Ucchan. With the lech and my old man, and having to worry about Kodachi and Kuno. Did I mention that Ryoga was in town yesterday? It just seemed like everything went to hell. Otherwise, I would've stopped by, you believe me, right?"

"Of course I do Ran-chan." _I always believe you_. "I brought you some okonomiyaki." Ukyo took a packet of sauce and scribbled, 'I love you Ran-chan, on the Okonomiyaki. He didn't bother to read it, he just started eating. A pained look crossed Ukyo's features for a moment but was quickly replaced with a smile when he turned to face her.

"Thanks Ucchan, you're one of the few people I can always count on. I gotta go sit with Akane now." Ranma pointed over to the glowing girl on the other side of the yard.

"Why?"

"What do you mean, why? I always eat with Akane."

"Can't you eat with me?"

"Okay Ucchan," he began.

Mentally, Ukyo did a victory dance at Ranma's decision, her face sparkling.

"...I guess you can eat with Akane and me."

_Ugh_. Ukyo's face wasn't sparkling anymore.

Ranma grabbed Ukyo by the wrist and began trudging off to where Akane was eating with her friends and glaring at him. The sight would have made a normal man, or a more observant one, shudder. But Ranma was neither of these things, and so didn't react to Akane's current state of mind.

"Hello, Akane-chan."

"What're you doing here Ukyo?"

"Oh, Ranchan invited me over to eat with him, it was really very nice of him. So how are things going with you Akane?"

Akane shot Ranma a look that promised intense pain to come. Normally she and Ukyo got along very well, but after the spectacle that Shampoo and Kodachi had made of themselves the chef's presence was not high on her wishlist.

Remembering the small trinket on her hand, a thought came to Akane. _I could wish for Ukyo, Shampoo and Kodachi to all find somebody else. That would solve everybody's problems. Well, probably._

"Akane?"

"Oh, They're going just fine Ukyo. Some things could be better, but it seems like that's always the way." Her mouth moving on auto-pilot, Akane began to relate the story of the cursed powersuit to Ukyo, carefully avoiding any references to Urd or their brief encounter yesterday. During the entire conversation she continued glaring at Ranma, who did his best to act like he was ignoring her. Unfortunately, Ranma isn't all that great an actor.

In the midst of this conversation. A loud voice rang out across the courtyard. "Ranma Saotome! I would free the pig-tailed girl and Akane Ten-"

Clang.

The plate, which had once had an okonomiyaki on it, found itself with a new face-shaped imprint. Tatewaki Kuno pitched backwards into unconsciousness.

Snacking on the deluxe okonomiyaki in his hands, Ranma admired his friend's skillful throw. "Thanks, Ucchan. That was even faster than usual."

"Anytime, Ranchan."

---

The gate into the Tendo grounds exploded inward, revealing an angry Akane Tendo and a furious, though confused, Ranma Saotome. "I cannot believe you! At lunch you were hanging all over Kodachi and Shampoo, and then you have the nerve to grope Ms. Hinako in front of everybody! You Pervert!" Tiny events throughout the day had conspired, as they so often did, to build the short-haired girl's anger up in increments as the hours wore on.

Now, safely away from their rivals, suitors, and other disruptive forces, Akane could unleash her feelings on the pig-tailed boy. Ranma, of course, couldn't understand what it was that had set his fiancee into such a rage. "Akane, I was not hanging all over Shampoo and Kodachi."

She launched a small series of punches and kicks at him. "Then what do you call it, pervert?"

Weaving between Akane's fists, Ranma began to taunt the angry young woman, adopting mocking poses as he avoided her attacks. "They were hanging all over me. You know that they always do that."

"Well, you don't have to act like you enjoy it all the time."

"What're you talking about? I do everything I can to get them off me."

"Yeah right! You expect me to believe that, but I know you like to spend all your free time groping them. You're as bad as Happosai."

"Since when do I have any free time, tomboy?"

"Who are you calling a tomboy!" Akane leapt into the air, lashing out with both fists and bringing them down with enough force to create a small crater, but Ranma was already running across the yard.

Laughing a little too loudly, the pig-tailed boy ducked under a thrown cinder block.

"Stand still and take your punishment."

Akane was standing across the yard from Ranma. He was gloating at how easily he outmatched her.

"You are so Uncute! I doubt that you could hit me if I was standing still."

Akane screamed in frustration at her betrothed. "Ranma Saotome, I wish I'd never met you! You are such an arrogant self-centered bastard! I hope you..." There was a warm pulse of energy from Akane's hand. The short-haired girl looked down in annoyance, and saw the ring she had recieved from Urd yesterday.

It was glowing.

_ What did I say? Oh no._

A look of horror passed over her face as she fell to her knees in shock, looking with terrified understanding between the ring and Ranma.

_ Please gods no_.

Ranma jetted to her side before either of them could blink.

"Akane, what's wrong?"

Akane looked up at her fiancee, abject horror painting her features,

_ It can't end like this, please, gods, not this way. I didn't mean it. Please, Urd, no, please, Kami-sama, please don't do this._

"Ranma don't leave, please don't go." She latched her arms around him with the desperation of a possessed woman. "Please, tell me you won't go, stay here, please don't go Ranma please please please." The short-haired girl trailed off into harsh whispers, as the glowing band around her finger began releasing small flashes of brilliant golden lightning. Tears began to poor down the stricken girl's face as her grip tightened, clutching her fiancee with a fierceness that bordered on manic.

"Ranma you can't leave me, please don't go."

"Akane? What's going on... what are yo-" The ring released a golden pulse of light, bathing the dojo and the surrounding area in a warm glow.

When Akane opened her eyes, the featureless adornment had vanished from its position on her finger, and Ranma Saotome was gone.

---

Urd was attempting to help Keichii with another one of his vehicular creations when she felt the magic of the ring activate. Her excitement lasted only until she recieved a mental briefing on the wish and its ramifications. Urd dropped the parts that she had been holding in shock, a single tear sliding along her cheek, the enormity of what had just happened crashing down upon her.

"Wish approved..."

---

Akane looked around the yard. Ranma wasn't there.

"Ranma, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it..." Wrapping her arms around her knees, the long-haired girl began to cry. "I didn't mean it."

"I love you," she whispered to the empty garden.

End chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2: Consequences

A Wish Come True Part 2: Consequences

---

** One year ago...**

A panda and a red haired girl with a pig-tail faced off in the street of Nerima. It was raining hard.

"I told you Pop! This is no time for fiancees!"

Having said that, the redhead leapt up and landed a kick on the panda's face sending it flying into a street sign, where it collapsed in a heap.

"I'm going back to China, so suck on that, Old man."

Unbeknownst to the girl, the panda had gotten back up and was holding the street sign in one paw. It swung it towards the girl.

Call it divine inspiration, because that's probably what it was, but something warned the girl of the attack ahead of time. She ducked under  
the blow and caught the sign with her hand. Standing back up, she turned around and faced the panda.

"Now you listen to me, Oyaji, and you listen good. I am not..." She swung the sign toward the panda's face, where it impacted with a muted clang. "...going to let you..." She swung it again. "...engage me to some girl..." She did it again, this time there were murmurs from the  
gathering crowd. "...that I have never even met!" She swung the sign at the panda to accentuate the last word, and it broke across the beast's skull.

The panda fell to the sidewalk, slumping into unconsciousness.

The redhead turned around and glared at the crowd, which stepped back and began walking away. The redhead could hear the people talking.

"...and I thought Tomobiki was wierd."

"Don't stare darling, or I'll hurt you."

"Imagine! Engaging a girl to a girl."

The redhead began to get slightly pissed at that one.

"How could a panda engage anybody to anybody anyway?"

After the crowd had the left, the redhead picked up the panda and slung it over her shoulder, impressive considering how much that thing had to weigh. Walking a few blocks, the girl found a bridge under which the ground was comparatively dry. Setting up camp, and stuffing the panda into one of the tents, she began heating a kettle of water. Eventually using it turn into a good-looking, dark-haired young boy with a pig-tail.

Growling, Ranma crawled into his tent and tried to get some sleep.

---

** Present day...**

Akane was still on her knees in the garden, the overwhelming silence was comforting, in a disturbing way. The wracking sobs that had seized her had finally abated, she was now just crying softly into her arms. _Ranma, I didn't mean it, it wasn't supposed to happen like this. I was going to make a wish and we were going to be happy and never have to worry about Happosai or Ukyo or Cologne or Shampoo or Kodachi or Kuno or anybody. Ranma... where are you?_

The youngest Tendo stood and walked mechanically back into the house, sitting down on the couch, and began mulling over the time since school. She had been so angry at Ranma. What had he done to get her so mad, she almost couldn't remember. "Oh yeah, he was hanging all over Shampoo and... no, that's not right, Shampoo and Kodachi were hanging all over him. Then he ate Ukyo's okonomiyaki,  
and then he came over to eat with me, and brought Ukyo with him."

"Oh yes, he was truly doing some horrible things today wasn't he Akane-chan?"

Akane whirled around to find the goddess of the past glaring at her with a look so cold Akane thought the temperature inside had dropped a few degrees.

"Yes, Akane, I must admit. Ranma was truly deserving of that wish, what was it he did again? He ate lunch with you and his best friend?  
That would be one of the most unforgivable things a man could possibly do to me."

"Who are you to judge me?" Akane's temper was flaring at the condescending woman who had given her that magic ring. Lashing out at a divine entity in a fit of pain and emotional distress was not the wisest thing she had ever done, but right now she just needed to scream at something, anything. "This is all your fault anyway, that magic ring that you gave me. You knew what was going to happen, you knew that Ranma would get me mad and that I would... would..." Fresh tears began to streak from her eyes as she yelled at the Goddess in front of her. Her heart was an ocean of anger, directed primarily at herself, and she latched onto the platinum-haired woman in desperation.

"I didn't want this, you have to know that, Urd. I didn't want this."

Urd gathered the smaller girl into her arms, holding her as she cried some more. "I am Urd, Goddess of the Past and Cupid of Love, Second Class, Second Category; limited, and I will judge you as I see fit. I know the past, Akane, I know what was, not what will be, nobody knows that. Even Goddesses of Future like my younger sister can only make educated guesses most of the time.Your temper is what got you into this mess, not me, not Ranma, and not anybody else. I checked up on you Akane-chan, Something I should've done  
before I ever agreed to that wish, but I'd already..."

The Norn stopped for a moment to catch her breath, and calm herself down. "I started to like you Akane-chan, because deep down I'm willing to bet that you are a good person, I know for a fact that you are, even if you are a little possessive and jealous. Heck, I'm half those things myself. Claim responsibility for what happened Akane, and mean it, and I'll do everything I can to help you."

"Urd, I, I'm sorry, but... Ranma just got me so angry that... I just wasn't thinking... I mean, I say stuff like that fromt time to time, and even  
if he gets mad at me, he would always just, I would just have to apologize and then things would go back to the way they were."

"Sorry can't fix everything Akane-chan, and while it would certainly make things easier if I could just undo what's been done, I can't. The best I can do right now is to help you figure out what to do with your new life."

"But if I never met Ranma, then how come I remember everything?"

"Let's just say a mutual friend of ours managed to pull a few strings, Akane-chan, and made that part of the wish. Usually when someone's wish would change the past, the person who made the wish changes with it. Almost every wish works like that, and yours was about to, but thanks to Belldandy, you've been excluded from the shift. You will, however, have memories from this life filtering in for the next few weeks." The goddess adopted a serious expression, locking eyes with the smaller girl. "I won't lie to you Akane-chan, you're going to have to fight to keep your old self, and it isn't going to be easy, but you can do it."

"So... where's Ranma now?"

"Ranma is living happily in Nerima..."

A look of such unbridled hope came to Akane's face that Urd nearly couldn't finish speaking. But there are some things that must be done.

"...with Ukyo."

Akane's face fell and she looked ready to cry again. "But, but why? I mean, wouldn't his father remember about the engagement to one of us, either me, or Nabiki, or Kasumi? His dad was always really adamant about that, he wouldn't let Ranma live with Ukyo, he just wouldn't."

"Ranma didn't get to the dojo that night, Akane-chan."

Memories that weren't her own, yet couldn't have belonged to anybody else, flooded into Akane's mind.

---

** One year ago...**

"Um, Daddy, are you sure they're coming?"

"Of course Nabiki, Genma's postcard said they'd be arriving today. They should be here any moment." Soun sat in a lotus position, across  
the table from him sat his three daughters. "They should be here any time now."

Kasumi stood, letting the feeling seep back into her legs, and began moving toward the kitchen. "I'll go make some dinner, I'm sure  
that they'll be hungry once they get here."

"Kasumi, please sit down and wait for the Saotomes. They'll be here any minute."

"Yes, father." Mindful of her father's stern tone, the eldest Tendo daughter returned to her position at the table.

Nabiki, arms folded across her chest, rested on the table. Occasionally, a light snore would escape from her mouth as she dreamed  
of a handsome young husband handed to her on a silver platter.

Akane leaned back on her hands, her earlier anger at the arrangement had evaporated quickly, now she was just bored.

_And I have to go to the bathroom._

"Yes, Saotomes should be any minute now."

---

**Present day...**

"So you see Akane-chan you and Ranma never met. As such, he didn't fall in love with you. Besides, all it would take would be a couple  
of deluxe okonomiyaki and Genma would stand behind Ranma's engagement to Ukyo, you know that as well as I do." Urd was now standing on the other side of the room going through Soun's stash of alcoholic beverages. "You'd think he'd keep something better on hand... yeesh."

Akane sifted through her memories of that rainy night so long ago. She still remembered meeting Ranma, but at the same time she remembered coming downstairs with Kasumi that night to collect her father once he'd stopped crying, and Nabiki's disappointment that her prospective male had not arrived when expected. Having two conflicting sets of memories, both of which you knew for certain were real, was a disturbing experience. She felt like she couldn't trust her own senses anymore.

"That doesn't explain why Ranma's living in Nerima... I mean, wouldn't he have left to go find his Mom or something if he never arrived here?"

Urd shook her head, taking little swigs from Soun's deposit of alcohol. The collection of bottles in their liquor cabinet seemed larger than Akane remembered. Whether that meant good things or bad was yet to be determined.

"Look, Akane-chan, I'd have to sit here all night if I wanted to explain everything that's different from what you remember. A lot can happen in a year, as you well know, and a lot did. I'll just say this, the power that granted your wish also ensured that Ranma didn't stray too far. In this life, the two of you have never spoken to each other or directly interacted in any way, and that's how things are."

"Is there anything that's changed for the better for me, Urd? Anything?"

"Hmmm," she thought for a moment. "Tatewaki Kuno's not after you anymore, and as for the other big thing, well, it should be home in a couple minutes. I shouldn't be here when Nabiki or Kasumi show up, Akane-chan, but this one, well..." the Goddess shared a wink with the youngest Tendo daughter. "He won't tell anybody."

A door clacking shut alerted her, and Akane whipped around in a ready stance. Weird, somehow she felt faster than she remembered. She experimentally cracked her knuckles, and found that she felt stronger too.

A male voice rang out from the entryway. "Hello? Is anyone here?"

As a young man around Akane's age, wearing a white bandanna and carrying an old, battle-scarred broom looked into the living room, Akane's mind found itself flush with another episode from this strange life that wasn't quite her own.

---

** Two months ago...**

"Blow it!" Shinnosuke's grandfather shrieked in a womanly voice.

The shrill sound of the whistle echoed off the trees of Ryugenzawa, and the Orochi's many heads slumped to the ground in defeat. It had taken all the speed Akane possessed, and a large amount of alcohol, to fend off the multiple mouthed onslaught.

_I never thought I'd be thankful I had to fight that Chardin creep_.

The eighth and final head of the Orochi reared up from the depths of the water basin, easily as large as the as the others combined.

_Oh shit._

Darting to the side, the giant beast's teeth tore into the sandy soil Akane had been standing on. Behind her stood Shinnosuke and his  
Grandfather, still dressed in drag and trying to lure the monster away. The Orochi's roar was phsyically painful to hear, and she was forced  
to drop the broom she was using to clap her hands over her ears.

The large dragon burst toward her with carnivorous intent, when it suddenly stopped in the act of closing its jaw, looking as surprised  
as Akane was. Inside the creature's mouth stood Shinnosuke's grandfather, his own broom being used to keep the Orochi's fangs from grinding Akane to dust.

"Akane! The moss, it's on the eighth head, get it for Shinnosuke!"

A glance back at the young man who'd once saved her life, and Akane remembered why she was here. If she blew the whistle now, the serpent would sink to the bottom and the moss might be lost.

Vaulting atop the creature's head, Akane spotted her goal, the life-giving fungus growing near the gigantic snakelike eyes. A single swipe with her broom collected a large amount of moss, and the long-haired girl bounced backward, returning to the beach around the lake the Orochi called home.

Looking toward Shinnosuke, Akane saw him collapse, his life fleeing his body before her very eyes. Moving with a speed few in the world were capable of, Akane tore the blouse from the young man's back and scrubbed the healing moss onto the scarred tissue from so long ago.

Before her eyes, the wounded flesh disappeared leaving only healthy skin behind. Shinnosuke's eyes opened, meeting Akane's as he sat  
up on the grass. "Akane, you saved me."

Quiet tears clouding her vision, Akane wrapped her arms around the young man who'd rescued her so long ago.

"Akane, I've been waiting for the right time to say this, but I think I'm in love with you." There was a pause during which neither  
spoke. Akane did her best to ignore what he had said, since he'd already told her twice. She didn't return his feelings, but couldn't say so for fear of aggravating his injury.

"Your name is Akane, right?"

She sighed in frustration.

A deafening howl shattered the tranquil moment between the two, who turned their surprised faces up to the thrashing form of the Orochi's  
large rearward head. The creature's eyes were clouding over, and it looked to be turning a hideous shade of purple, as though it couldn't  
breath.

"Oh god, Shinnosuke, your grandfather!"

"My what?"

The giant beast collapsed to the beach, its air supply restricted, and its body dying. "Your grandfather, he was in the Orochi's mouth.  
Oh my god." Akane's hands covered her face as she choked back a sob. "The serpent must have eaten him."

Shinnosuke was standing by the fallen form of the oversized hydra, poking at its eyes with the handle of his broom. "That's odd,  
the Orochi would never eat a man, they're poisonous to it, I think." He scratched his head in wonder. "A man would have to literally jump  
down its throat before he could be swallowed."

Understanding came to Akane at that moment. Shinnosuke's grandfather had sacrificed himself, so that they would survive, and  
in the process of doing that had killed the Orochi, the source of the water of life.

The smaller heads on the beast gave a collective shudder as the single heart inside its body stopped pumping. The Orochi,  
the eight-headed serpent, the life's blood of Ryugenzawa, was dead. With that death, the water of life would cease to flow. The forest  
would recede and its giant creatures would no doubt return to the normal size they had been long ago. Shinnosuke's work here was  
done, and he didn't even know, probably wouldn't remember it in twenty minutes time.

"Shinnosuke," Akane said as she reached her hand out to him. The forgetful boy took her hand in his own.

"Hello, have we met?"

She tried not to cry at the oblivious cheerfulness in his eyes. "I'm Akane, do you remember me?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think I do, are you alright, miss Akane?"

She smiled at his concern for her. "Shinnosuke, it's not safe here, for either of us."

"Yes, the animals of this forest are dangerous. You should probably go home, but beware of the traps. I think I set some of them  
near here."

Akane tugged gently on his hand, without his Grandfather to watch over him there was no telling what would happen to Shinnosuke.  
She could see only one choice in this situation, and she hoped it was the right one to make. "Shinnosuke, you're going to have to come  
with me, to show me the way out. Do you understand?"

He nodded dumbly. "I shouldn't leave the forest, my Grandfather would be upset. At least, I think he would."

Akane kept pulling, leading the dumbstrack lad away. "You're going to come live with me, Shinnosuke. Your grandfather won't mind.  
You could almost say it was his idea." Tears were flowing freely from her eyes now, but she turned away as she led the forest guardian  
away from Ryugenzawa.

"Akane, I've been waiting for the right moment to say this, but I guess now is as good a time as any. I think I love you."

"I know, Shinnosuke." The tears continued to flow as she led her friend to Nerima. Explaining him to her family would not  
be easy, but she wouldn't abandon him here, not if she could help it.

---

** Present day...**

Shinnosuke looked with concern at the two women in the living room. He thought he recognized one of them, but the other he was pretty certain was a stranger. He leveled his broom at the long-haired girl.

"Who are you and what are you doing in this house?"

"Shinnosuke, it's me. Akane."

"Akane?" He nodded and slapped himself lightly in the head. "Of course, how could I forget? My apologies." Reaching into his gi, Shinnosuke removed a small packet of index cards. Akane remembered Kasumi giving him those to help him remember vital pieces of information like his name, and to eat during the day. The one he was looking at now had pictures of the Tendos, with their names written in marker underneath them.

"Akane-chan, I'm going to have to go for a little while, okay? Don't worry though, I'll be back tomorrow to help you adjust and maybe explain a few more things." That being said, Urd disappeared into the television set. Leaving Akane just as upset, angry, and lost as she had been feeling before Urd arrived. The only difference was that now she knew that Ranma was in Nerima, he was with Ukyo, and  
she didn't have to worry about Kuno anymore.

"Um, Akane, how did that woman disappear into the television set?"

A depressed sigh escaped from the long-haired girl as she slumped down onto the couch. "Don't worry about it Shinnosuke, she's just a friend of mine."

"Should I write that down?"

Looking at him, Akane just quirked an eyebrow at the memory-challenged lad. "Write what down?"

Shinnosuke sat down next to her, looking confused.

The door to the house opened for the second time in as many minutes, and in stepped a rather daringly dressed Nabiki. She was wearing jean shorts and a tank-top that showed off her rather impressive assets.

"Hey Akane, hey Shin-chan, Dad still asleep?"

The nickname her older sister had used for the young man resulted in another cascade of memories, but the youngest Tendo refrained from sorting through them at the moment. "Um, yeah, I think so... why?"

Nabiki gave Akane a calculating look, it quickly receded back into her emotionless mask. Soun's job on the city council hadn't held up for long after the Saotome incident, so now the Tendo's were living somewhat cheaper than they'd used to. With the recent addition of Shinnosuke, that had turned into a lot cheaper than they'd used to. Their father rarely left his room nowadays. "Good, c'mon. I hope you're hungry, I brought dinner from that Nekohanten place. They make the cheapest, best ramen in town."

"Umm, why isn't Kasumi cooking?"

Nabiki arched an eyebrow at Akane, curious at her sister's oblivious behavior. "Akane, you know perfectly well that Kasumi works over at the Kuno place on Mondays." Nabiki stared down at her hand as it clenched into a fist almost of it's own accord. "Kuno-chan, you idiot, why'd you have to..." Nabiki's voice trailed off into nothingness as she looked at her fingernails. "Anyway, here."

Nabiki handed Akane a box with a set of chopsticks attached, which she opened to find a bowl of Ramen. Figuring that since neither Shampoo, Mousse, or Cologne knew who she was now, the ramen would be safe to eat, Akane began consuming the meal with gusto.. Nabiki was the first to finish her food and ran upstairs after doing so. When she emerged again downstairs she was holding her camera in one hand.

She motioned towards the dojo with her head. "C'mon Akane, it's time for that photo shoot."

Akane's head whipped up in shock at that. "What?"

"C'mon Akane, you promised. A few cheesy shots of you beating up on the walking memory bank over there."

_I did what?_ "I... okay."

Nabiki patted her sister on the rear as the two headed out to the dojo. "Don't worry Akane, there won't be anything too kinky. We don't need money badly enough for me to do that to you."

Akane blushed from her hairline to her toes as she entered the dojo, laughter from her older sister prompting some embarassing flashes of her past.

Nabiki rounded on the boy with the broom that was following closely behind her. He could be cute in his more lucid moments, when he knew who he was. "Shin-chan, I think you forgot to pay me your rent for the month. That'll be two thousand yen." Nabiki extended her hand in a familiar and expectant gesture, it was fortunate that she'd been able to talk Doctor Tofu into not only hiring the guy but also paying him in cash. Too bad the good doctor was having so little success aiding Shinnosuke's memory troubles.

As the forgetful young man dropped a wad of bills into her palm, Nabiki mentally checked off another item from her weekly to-do list. It had taken her some time to work out a decent schedule for extracting money from the young man. If she took too much he would wind up lost and pennliess in the big city and it would be her fault, if she took too little he'd fritter it away. On what, she couldn't imagine.

Sparing a glance to her watch, Nabiki entered the dojo. Kasumi would be home in a couple of hours, plenty of time.

---

End part 2


	3. Chapter 3: Black Rose, Scarlet Fury

A Wish Come True, part 3: Black Rose, Scarlet Fury 

or, Black and Fight and Red All Over

A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by Brian

---

Akane reentered the house. Her photo shoot with Nabiki had been almost boring, her sister seeming completely uninterested in what she was doing. She still made certain that the pictures were quality, and didn't show too much, but she'd been lacking the vitality that she'd once had when sneaking pictures of Akane or Ranma. She seemed rather subdued, and had left shortly after the shoot to go get the film developed.

Running upstairs, Akane paused by the door to her father's room; finding it slightly ajar. She chanced a look inside and was disturbed by what she saw. Soun was asleep in his bed, but that wasn't what scared her. Covering nearly every surface inside the small room, were clippings from newspapers, some new, some old. Mounted on the wall opposite her father's bed, amidst the countless pages of newsprint, was a postcard with a picture of a panda on it. Akane was kneeling down to examine her father before she realized she'd entered the room.

Soun Tendo's face seemed a tad harder than it had been, more lines no doubt developed from a less peaceful life, but even in his sleep tears worked their way down his cheeks. The pillow that he was lying on was soaked clear through with the saltwater from his eyes. She looked closer, examining the papers on the floor, find that they all had one thing in common. Each of the clippings detailed the countless battles involving Ranma Saotome or a girl using the same name in Nerima. Akane spotted one from almost a year ago. Saotome-Hibiki brawl results in massive property damage, the headline read, going on to detail accounts from bystanders.

Apparently Ryoga had jumped from the sky screaming for Ranma's death, and the ensuing melee had resulted in minor damage to a storefront or two, finally ending with Ryoga crashing into a fire hydrant and dousing the street.

Akane scowled at the paper in her hands. _Yeah right, it was always Ranma's fault! He was always picking on Ryoga! When I get my hands on him he'll... he'll..._ The burning rage bled off into nothingness, she had no right to hit Ranma now, no right to claim the moral high ground, no right to anything.

Anger had gotten her into this, and she wasn't going to let that happen again. Not again. When she spoke to Ranma she would be considerate, calm, and controlled and she would convince him to come to the dojo and they would all live happily ever after.

She stood up, intent on her goal, and turned to find herself staring into the stern face of Kasumi, only it wasn't Kasumi. The older sister that Akane knew was full of life, always smiling, and never angry. The young woman standing before Akane seemed drained, battle-hardened, and weary in ways that were somewhat unsettling.

Kasumi leaned close to her sister, speaking in a voice that barely qualified as a whisper, "You shouldn't be in here, Akane-chan, you wouldn't want to wake father. He might get upset again." Kasumi turned, exited the room, and began to walk down the hall towards the staircase. She was walking deliberately, and took great care to keep her steps steady. Kasumi was limping, favoring her left leg just a little bit when she walked, and the subtle movement was clearly causing Kasumi pain.

"Kasumi, are you alright? You're limping."

Kasumi turned around and favored Akane with a smile that was obviously forced. "I am fine, Akane. Why don't you go change into something more... suitable. I will be in the kitchen making some tea."

Akane realized she was still wearing her gi and walked gingerly toward her room, emerging a few moments later wearing a very conservative blue housedress. She stopped on her way downstairs, closing the door to her father's bedroom and made her way to the kitchen. Kasumi, looking more like the older sister from Akane's memories, finished pouring tea for the both of them, offering one of the servings to Akane with an apology forits temperature. "The whistle might wake father," she said.

Nodding her acceptance, the youngest Tendo took the proffered beverage. Kasumi could have just told her that it was flavored with spices from Kodachi's cupboard, Akane wasn't going anywhere until she had the information she desired. She sipped the tea; it wasn't cold, but it wasn't quite hot either. She decided not to drink any more. When Kasumi walked over to turn off the range, Akane noticed the way she was walking once again.

"Kasumi, what happened?"

"It is nothing Akane, really. Mistress Kodachi's pet alligator, Midorigame, got loose again. Someone fell in their pond and he followed them out. Fortunately nothing truly terrible occured, just a few broken dishes and a bruise on my leg. She was most generous in her apology." Kasumi shot Akane a smile that would have seemed genuine, were it not for the fact that it never reached her eyes.

Akane forced down a shudder at the darkness in her sister's normally bright face. "Mistress Kodachi, Kasumi?"

The older sister laughed at the that, a light sparkling sound. "I'm sorry, that is just what Sasuke calls her. Most of my time at the Kuno estate is spent assisting him with the cleaning. I guess his method of address rubbed off on me." Kasumi lowered her voice to a hushed, conspiratorial tone. "She insists that I call her Kodachi-chan when we are both there at the same time. She believes that it's more appropriate given my age and her relationship with you."

Akane started at that, her head throbbing as more memories came to the fore. She rubbed her temples a little as she digested new information, her mind still listening to Kasumi's voice as her first few encounters with the Black Rose replayed themselves, though slightly altered from what she originally remembered.

---

**Eleven months ago...**

"Akane Tendo, prepare to die!" The wild-eyed young lady in the leotard dropped from Akane's ceiling, hammer at the ready.

_What the?_

The mallet impacted harshly against the pillow Akane's head had been resting on scant seconds ago, sending feathers billowing into the air. Flipping to her feet, Akane assumed a ready position as her attacker leapt backward and did the same.

Kodachi twirled the wooden hammer in her hands. "Hmm, you are formidable. I should have expected no less after those three harpies wailed for you like lost children."

"So you must be Kodachi, the Black Rose, the one who attacked my friends."

The raven-haired gymnast arched an eyebrow. "My noble reputation precedes me, it would seem. Though the facts of the matter might be disputed. They ambushed me in that empty lot, three against one if I recall correctly." She caught herself before continuing the conversation, remembering her purpose. "Enough of this, prove yourself!"

Lunging forward, hammer extended, Kodachi attempted to crush the smaller girl's knees. Leaping into the air, Akane launched a spinning kick which clipped the Black Rose's ponytail. With a smooth rolling motion the gymnast regained her footing, bringing the hammer down toward the youngest Tendo. Landing, Akane snapped her foot into a sharp kick, knocking the hammer loose from her assailant's grip. Following up with a quick punch, Akane's fist met empty air.

Not even breathing hard from the quick burst of activity, Kodachi stood in front of the window, appraising her enemy and reaching into her leotard. "Hmm, you may be worthy to battle me after all. We shall meet again." Laughing maniacally, she twirled her ribbon and unleashed a blizzard of black flower petals, painting the room in dark flora.

Akane stared at the holocaust that had befallen her room, black rose petals everywhere, shrieking in impotent rage at her vanished opponent.

"Who's going to clean up this mess!"

---

The following day at school, Akane arrived to the surprising sight of the normal horde of desperate young men lying unconscious just inside the gate, some of them snoring softly, others with obvious bruising. Stepping gingerly around the fallen boys, she sensed an attack from behind and quickly reacted to grab the incoming object. It was a bokken, and at the other end was the Black Rose, scowling at her across the blade of the wooden sword.

The long-haired girl glared at her assailant. "What's the big idea attacking me this early in the morning? From behind no less!"

Gripping the bokken's tip, and using more strength than she was aware she had, Akane threw Kodachi across the schoolyard. The gymnast twisted in mid-air and landed on her feet, bokken held at the ready.

"I have dispensed with my brother's foolish ambush so that our battle will not be interrupted." The Black Rose assumed an offensive stance, though she didn't seem comfortable with the bokken in her hands. "Shall we commence round two, Akane Tendo?"

A commanding voice rose from nearby as Tatewaki Kuno stepped around the large tree in front of the school. "Sister, you shall do no harm to my beloved." The kendoist would've continued speaking, but a ribbon wrapped around his face and flung him into the stone wall around Furinkan.

"This is my fight, Brother Dear, do not interfere unless I wish it."

With a cry of rage, Kodachi charged toward Akane, swiping at her with the bokken. Akane leapt over the attacking girl, noting with a grimace that there was now a split in the front of her uniform's dress.

Sidestepping a pair of thrown clubs as she landed, Akane rushed the gymnast with a whirlwind of punches. "Is that all you've got, some clubs and a wooden sword?"

Kodachi cackled darkly. "I would not waste the full extent of my arsenal on one of such low birth as yourself." Using the flat of the bokken,  
the Black Rose blocked what punches she could, evading the rest with an easy grace that belied the difficulty of the task.

Akane smirked at her opponent. "Haven't you swung a bokken before? You're holding it all wrong." At Kodachi's offended glare, the  
young Tendo launched a powerful haymaker, shattering through the blade of the bokken and impacting between the gymnast's breasts. The raven-haired girl flew backward, landing sprawled on the grass. Climbing unsteadily to her feet, Kodachi produced her ribbon,  
coughing into one hand as she unleashed another storm of rose petals.

"Round two is mine, Akane Tendo, you would do well to remember that in the realm of rhythmic gymnastics, physical contact is forbidden." With her unique laughter sounding behind her, Kodachi leapt off into the city, no doubt heading toward her own school.

_Physical attacks are forbidden? _Akane scowled at her hands, clenching them into tight and calloused fists, they had seen her through so many battles she wasn't certain she could envision fighting without them. After school she'd have a talk with those girls from the rhythmic gymnastics team, it looked like intensive training would be necessary.

---

"Well, little piggy, it looks like we're stuck together for the next little while." Akane spoke softly to the tiny black piglet that was now chained to her wrist. If she didn't know better, she would've sworn it understood what she was saying. Kodachi must have trained it to respond like that. _Between this and those flowers in my dressing room earlier I'm not sure I want to know what else she's got up her sleeve._

The battle that followed would go down in the annals of Furinkan High School, remembered and retold for years to come. For over forty-five minutes Akane Tendo fought Kodachi Kuno to a standstill, coping with razor sharp hoops, clubs with concealed spikes, and flying objects from around the arena.

Blocking one of Kodachi's hoops with the wristcuff that chained her to the pig, Akane was overjoyed as the manacle cracked and fell from her arm. Kneeling down, she shooed the pig off the mat, taking her eyes off her opponent for the briefest of seconds, but it was more than long enough for Kodachi.

The ribbon had barely collected around Akane's torso before she felt her feet lose contact with the mat and found herself flying toward the audience. As Kodachi's ribbon released, and the gymnast began to laugh, Akane let fly with her own streamer, sending a prayer along with it. The tool found purchase on a girder overhead and Akane came within inches of touching the ground as she reversed direction and swung back toward the ring. Letting go, she landed flat in the center of the arena, dazed from the hard stop. She hadn't yet stumbled to her feet before Kodachi was upon her, raining down blows with her clubs which Akane dodged by the thinnest of margins.

One of Kodachi's clubs poked forward, aiming itself toward Akane's neck. Bending backward farther than she ever had before, Akane touched her palms to the mat, dodging under the club and moving into a handstand. With the soles of her feet she grabbed Kodachi's arm at the wrist and flung her toward the outside of the arena.

As Kodachi flew over the audience, a haughty look tainting her beauty, she blew a whistle that hung around her neck. Unexpectedly, the ring beneath Akane moved to catch the gymnast, throwing the Tendo heir off balance. Before the Black Rose could touch down, however, there was another loud whistling sound and the ring moved quickly back to the center.

Kodachi landed hard in the seating area, one of the metal chairs striking the small of her back in a fashion that looked unquestionably painful, while her ankle turned savagely on the cold concrete. As the Champion of St. Hebereke clambered to stand, resting her weight on the good foot she had left, the blower of the second whistle was revealed as the judge at the side of the arena. Limping to the ring, the Black Rose struggled back onto the mat to hear the ruling.

Grabbing a microphone, a referee stepped into the middle of the ring to address the combatants and the crowd simultaneously.

"The judges have ruled against Furinkan High School."

Akane shrieked, shaking her head in disbelief as she heard the announcement.

"By grabbing Kodachi Kuno's arm with her feet, Akane Tendo violated the rule of no physical contact between combatants. St. Hebereke is the official winner by disqualification."

A loud roar erupted from the pensive audience, Furinkan's student body hollering a volcanic shriek of protest, while St. Hebereke's crowd of female attendants cheered in joy. One voice, however, rose above the din of the masses, having stolen the referee's microphone.

"This is insufferable!"

Kodachi leveled an accusatory finger at Akane's shocked form. "Akane Tendo I will not tolerate this farce of a victory." The referee reached for the microphone, but was rapped in the face by a club from the wealthy gymnast. "You are at fault here as well, do not anger me!" Kodachi's back spasmed at the sudden exertion, causing a visible wince, but otherwise she ignored the pain. Akane was probably the only person at the contest that noticed.

The gymnast's voice escalated in both ferocity and volume as she continued speaking. "I challenge you to a rematch one week from this day, whereupon I shall overcome you in fair combat, and meaningless trivialities such as the rules will not be permitted to interfere in that. The Black Rose will not defeat a graceless wench such as yourself with something so innocuous as a technicality!" The proud young Kuno was quite near to shrieking as she completed her speech.

Akane marched up to the gymnast, meeting Kodachi's violet orbs with her own dark gaze. Grabbing the microphone, Akane half-shouted her reply, her eyes never leaving her opponent's. "I accept your challenge, you half-crazed, overconfident, cheating, debutante bimbo!"  
Each turned on their heel and marched off without another word.

The next week, Kodachi won, and the week after that, at the second rematch, Akane did. The unsanctioned battles then took place once a month, without fail, while sparring sessions at the Tendo Dojo occured many times a week, and sometimes more than once in a given day if Kodachi lost.

It took five months for the two to admit they'd become friends.

---

**Present day...**

"...she and I get along well enough, I usually don't see her or Tate-kun, as much of her time is occupied by your sparring or some boy, and Tatewaki has a similar interest," Kasumi said as she finished relating the day's events.

Akane was stupefied. _Ranma?_ Her new memories of Kodachi didn't help. Her friend had mentioned her crush only in passing, preferring to keep her peace about the matter. _The Black Rose as a friend and training partner just because Ranma never showed up. I did not see that coming._ However, she retained her calm so as not to betray any information.

"What's this boy's name, Kasumi?"

"Oh my, I never did hear either of them say his name. I've always been in such a hurry to keep their mansion clean, it is such an enormous household. Usually if one of them is planning something or is in the room I am headed elsewhere."

"Well, I'm sure it can't be that important then," Akane said, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

"I guess not, Akane-chan..." At the sound of Nabiki reentering the house and heading upstairs, Kasumi glanced over at the clock. It read just before eleven. "Perhaps it was time you went to bed, Akane. You have school tomorrow. I think I need to head upstairs as well. I'll clean up in the morning. Is Shinnosuke around? I hope he hasn't forgotten where we live again."

"Um, he was in the dojo last I saw."

"Well, he should be alright, but could you make certain that he gets to his room before he falls asleep, Akane-chan?"

The younger girl nodded.

Kasumi exited the kitchen and headed towards the staircase, Akane following closely behind her. The elder sister wobbled a little as they ascended to the top floor, but with help from Akane she remained on her feet. After they had reached the top, Akane helped Kasumi to her room. The older sister smiled at Akane as she opened the door, her limp having apparently been aggravated by the climb up the stairs.

"Kasumi, perhaps you should go see Tofu-sensei tomorrow. He can help you with that limp."

Kasumi's visage turned crestfallen at the mention of the good doctor. "Perhaps, Akane. I think he could use with some cheering up as well. He doesn't joke around nearly as much as he used to. For some reason he always seems sad whenever I go to see him." She shut the door and Akane could hear her heading to bed.

The long-haired girl gazed sadly at the closed door for a few minutes before turning and heading toward the dojo. Inside, she found Shinnosuke sweeping the dust and grime from the wooden flooring. He was still somewhat dirty from their sparring match earlier, and the pictures of him that Nabiki had snapped had probably suffered for it. There had been an odd focus in her sister's photography on action shots of the forgetful boy. When she thought of where those pictures were probably going, she admitted to herself that Shinnosuke was quite cute, but neither she nor the Akane that had actually lived this life ever returned his feelings.

"Hello, Akane, is it time to spar?" An anticipatory look appeared in his eyes as he readied his broom.

Akane had already faced Shinnosuke once today and, while she surprised herself by holding her own, it was not something she wanted to repeat quite so soon. "Actually I was just letting you know that we're heading to bed, do you remember where you sleep?"

He returned her smile with his own affectionate grin. "Of course, I share a room with my grandfather."

Akane's face fell at Shinnosuke's words, though she masked it by leading him out of the dojo and into the house. It was strange to open the door to their guest room, Ranma's room, and find it empty. The wrongness seemed palpable to Akane; Shinnosuke shouldn't be sleeping in here, and it should stink vaguely of wet panda fur. It shouldn't have pictures of Kasumi and Nabiki, with reminders of who they were, but photographs of herself and Ranma, shots of Ranma's mother, Ukyo, and the others who brought chaos into her life on a daily basis.

Bidding goodnight to Shinnosuke, the long-haired girl turned toward her own doorway. The tiny duck with her name was unchanged,  
and she found herself wondering what had become of Mousse and the Amazons in this life. Other than brief encounters with them when she stopped at their cafe for food, and their occasional appearances at the high school, she couldn't bring up any new memories that involved them.

Her new life didn't seem to be accessible all at once though, it was as though she needed something to spark the memories before they would come. She flicked on the light and glanced around the room, noticing several aspects of it to be different, though it was a subtle thing. Fewer patches in the walls, and a general feeling of emptiness permeating the air inside.

The only thing that she noticed missing made her want to begin crying again. Some time ago, after he had been Nabiki's fiancee, Ranma had given her a bouquet of red roses as a way of making up with her. Kasumi had shown her how to care for the flowers and Akane had done everything she could to keep them healthy and standing tall in their vase on her makeup table.

The roses weren't there now, because they never had been.

She changed into her nightclothes, flicked off the light, and attempted to sleep.

_Dad, Shinnosuke, Nabiki, Kasumi... I'm so sorry._ She tried not to remember what she'd done that afternoon, what she'd done a lifetime ago. _Ranma, I'm sorry, I swear I didn't mean it. I'll make it right, somehow. I don't know how, but I will._

---

**One year ago...**

"C'mon Pop, we're leaving this town and we're doing it now." Ranma tromped through the street, the limits of Nerima nearly visible as the marketplace vansihed behind him. Genma frowned as he followed his son through the city, glancing back in the direction he was certain Soun's dojo lay.

If he ran to the dojo, he'd probably be welcomed with open arms, but only for about ten minutes before Soun realized he didn't have the boy with him.

Silently, Genma hoped his old training buddy hadn't perfected that demon head maneuver in the intervening years. _What I need is a distraction, something to keep the boy from getting away, but what?_

"Ranma, prepare to die!" A heavy bamboo umbrella came crashing down, leaving a crater in the middle of the street where it connected.

_That'll do._

The pig-tailed boy assumed a ready stance as he faced his attacker, idly noticing that the patrons crowding the street had already begun to flee.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

---

Ranma had officially decided that he did not like police stations, as not only did the whole place smell like his father after he'd been out too late, but he didn't like the way the guy behind the desk kept eyeballing him. Closing his eyes, he let the surrounding conversations drift over him. Maybe he could pick up something useful if they thought he wasn't paying attention.

"Is this like that Furinkan thing with the army of desperate jocks?"

"Sounds like a martial arts duel, haven't had one of those in a while, at least not one with hefty property damage."

"What about the other guy, the one with the bandanna?"

The bandanna, something about it rattled Ranma's brain, like a song he wasn't certain he'd heard before. _Ryoga! Ryoga Hibiki, that's that psycho's name. What the hell was his problem?_ More memories filed into place as he sat in the uncomfortable wooden chair they'd provided him.

"The store owner says the boy with the umbrella did the damage, and it was mostly superficial anyway, so what do you say we let my son go for now?"

_Stupid pop._

The desk officer eyed the man in white suspiciously, something about him seemed familiar. "Did you say your name was Saotome?"

"Saotome is a very common name, I'll have you know."

The man in blue didn't look convinced, but relented anyway. He had a full night's work ahead of him, and something like this wasn't a high priority. There were people out there committing crimes on purpose.

As Genma and Ranma left the station, the elder Saotome's thoughts ran at a breakneck pace. "So the officer said not to leave town for the next couple days, so I was thinking that we could just drop by Tendo's place. Now is as good a time as any, right?"

Ranma scoffed at his father. "I said no and I meant it, pop. We may have to stay in town, but no fiancee means no fiancee. So pick, the vacant lot or the bridge again." Leaping backward over Genma's attempted suckerpunch, Ranma bounced off the older man's head, burying him face first into the dust.

"Nice try, old man."

---

Darkness covering his every step, Genma tiptoed silently along the top of the fence, nonchalantly adjusting Ranma's hogtied form as he made his way toward the Dojo. _Four days, I can't believe it took me so long to find an opening. The boy's improving faster than I thought._ Already they were well past due at the Tendo's, and there was little doubt that Soun wasn't happy.

A soft impact against his face stopped the elder Saotome's forward motion.

_This tastes like... oh no_. A loud clang resounded through the night as an oversized baker's peel impacted with Genma's head. Ranma's bound body hit the ground with a thud, while his father made more of a crunching sound.

"I would've sent a formal challenge, pops, but you didn't have an address."

Ukyo spun the utensil into a ready position as Genma rose to his feet, scraping the okonomiyaki from his face with his hands.

"Now isn't the time, Ukyo." His voice was grave, though the intensity was marred somewhat by the way he licked sauce from his fingers as he spoke. "I have somewhere to be, and you're in my way." Genma slipped loosely into a stance as he stared down the chef.

"You should've thought of that before your jackass of a son got his name in the papers. I've been after you for ten years, do you think I would've missed it?" Smaller flying spatulas sliced through the air toward Genma, who stuttered backward. He hadn't faced this strange martial style before, and if he didn't adapt quickly it might get the better of him. A cloud of flour enveloped the surrounding area, and all he saw was white darkness.

---

**Present Day...**

A noise rose from the pitch blackness of the restaurant below, stirring Ukyo from her pleasant dreams of the future. Slipping from the sheets and grasping her battle spatula from its resting place, she silently maneuvered through her room and down the stairs.

Noone was there, only moonlight bouncing through the windows and off the grill, the entire room glowing in the darkness. A hand dropped onto her shoulder and she nearly shrieked, but Ranma deftly caught the battle spatula as it whirled about to meet his face.

Placing his finger to his lips, he shushed his fiancee and pointed back up the stairs. The shuffling sound had returned, and was now in her bedroom, sounding roughly like the rapid creaking of a wooden dresser. The chef followed the pig-tailed boy back up the stairs, to where a diminuitive figure sifted through layers of laundry, some dirty, some clean.

Ukyo's face hardened. _The panty thief_.

Happosai's outraged scream resounded through the night as the tiny pervert flew over the small suburb of Nerima.

"The old freak's getting smarter, Ucchan, though I kinda wonder why he keeps going after your underwear."

The girl in question sighed as she sorted through the piles of clothing scattered about the floor of her room. "Just go back to bed, Ranchan."

With a shrug, the pigtailed boy turned and began walking back down the stairs, his fiancee gazing after him longingly. _All this time together and he still insists on sleeping in that little room downstairs. _"Jackass," she muttered, as she returned her spatula to its position at her bedside and settled back into her own dreams.

---

End Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4: New World Order

**Almost twelve months ago...**

"Akane, there's something we need to talk about."

Delivering a curious look to her older sister, the youngest Tendo nodded. "Is something going on Nabiki?"

The mercenary girl sighed, putting her hands behind her head as the two continued on their way home from school. "There was a new student at school today, and I think you need to be aware of it, that's all."

Nabiki paused then, collecting her thoughts as she debated how to proceed with her information. "Do you remember a couple of  
weeks back, when Daddy announced we'd be getting a fiancee?"

"Ranma Saotome, I think Daddy said, why?"

Nabiki's face became serious as she stopped and faced her younger sister. "Because he enrolled at Furinkan today, that's why. Luckily, fate was on our side and he's not in any of your classes, but you deserve to know." Pulling a small yen piece from her pocket, she shifted the coin to her thumb and began flipping it in the air. "So now we have a choice to make. We can either approach this Ranma person," she flashed one half of the yen at her sister. "Or we can avoid him at all costs." The reverse side of the coin showed itself.

"I already checked, and he's not the brightest yen ever minted, but he's pretty damned cute and could probably pound Kuno up one  
side of the school and down the other. Aside from that I don't know much yet." The coin shuffled along Nabiki's knuckles, moving first up then down as her fingers shifted. "I admit I was kind of excited at first, but when you really think about it, do you want to risk being engaged to someone you don't know and Daddy's never met?"

"Do you really want to keep this from dad, Nabiki? You saw how upset he was when the Saotome's didn't show, how mad he still is at them, how do you think he'd react if he found out we're going to the same school as Ranma and we didn't even tell him?"

A thoughtful gaze passed through Nabiki's eyes, and for a moment hesitation accompanied her normally calculating look. "I just  
want to know more about this guy before we get in over our heads, that's all. So what do you say, tell Ranma and Daddy, or not?"

Akane locked eyes with her sister. "Heads we do..."

"...tails we don't," Nabiki finished.

With the flick of a thumb, the coin rose into the air.

---

A Wish Come True, Chapter 4: New World Order

A Ranma Fanfiction, by Brian

---

** Present day...**

Akane tossed and turned, her sleep disturbed by images, thoughts, and fragments of memories that weren't quite her own attempting to overwrite the existence she knew. She remembered defeating the Dojo Destroyer, fighting Mariko Konjou, Gosunkugi's paper dolls and the quivering mass of bruised flesh she'd left of him after their magically induced date. She remembered watching in awe from the sidelines as Ranma summoned the Hiryu Shoten Ha for the first time, and seeing Ukyo dive into the vortex to save her fiancee.

She remembered falling in love with Ranma, this time from a distance.

"Akane? Yo, Akane!"

The long-haired girl opened her eyes and found herself staring into the familiar blue orbs of a pigtailed-boy in chinese clothes. There was Ranma, complete with that same grin he always had. Relief at seeing her fiancee was clouded quickly by the unfamiliar impulse to throw her arms around him and squeeze, which is what she did.

Someone screamed her name.

Akane's eyes shot open, and she found herself wrapping her sister in a bone-crushing hug. Nabiki was not amused, though she couldn't express that emotion as she was having trouble breathing at the moment. Releasing her grip with embarassed speed, Akane murmured apologies to her sister.

The brunette raised an eyebrow, holding one hand to her side as she caught her breath. "Not quite the reaction I was expecting, but at least you're up. C'mon, breakfast is ready, and if you don't hurry I'll tell everyone at school you were calling out Ranma's name in your sleep."

Recalling her dream, Akane stared at her shaking arms in shock, before she fully recalled the events of the previous day. _Maybe I can  
run into Ranma at school, then I'll fix everything, and he'll love me again. I don't even know what I did the first time, I was just myself, how hard could it be to make it happen again? I mean, his Dad will be all for the engagement, and his Mom too, he'd have to go along with it._

For some reason her own thoughts sounded hollow in her mind. She didn't even know how she'd fallen for him, how was she supposed to  
make him fall for her?

"Akane, you okay? I swear, I'll tell the whole school... again."

Out of habit more than anything else, the youngest Tendo nodded and followed the laughing Nabiki downstairs to the dining room.

---

Akane sat at the table, eating selectively from the meager feast Kasumi had crafted. Shinnosuke and the oldest daughter sat side-by-side.  
Oddly enough, the forgetful young man had no trouble remembering the eldest sister, while Nabiki had been forced to remind him of her identity more than once.

Soun did not eat with them, Kasumi having taken his breakfast and paper to his room before the others had come to the table. Nabiki ate  
quickly, remaining silent even as she finished and whisked up her backpack, fleeing the house like a ghost.

Akane continued to nibble away at her beef bowl, the soft clicking of chopsticks the only sound coming from the three that remained at the table. The quiet in the house went beyond disturbing, and if something insane didn't happen soon Akane was confident that she would go nuts. She idly blew bubbles in the glass of water that accompanied her meal, earning a reproving glance from the oldest sister.

Kasumi stood from the table and retrieved a basket from the side of the room. The wicker container had some of Dr. Tofu's books in it; medical journals and a few thick tomes on psychology and physiology. She wasn't sure what to make of it and didn't want to hazard a guess as to what, or rather who, they were for. Kasumi made her way to the door with some difficulty, her minor leg injury seeming more of a problem than it had been last night.

"I'll be going to Dr. Tofu's if you need anything, Father."

Akane had not even noticed when Soun appeared at the foot of the stairs, his face a weathered mass. His eyes moved slightly, a barely noticeable motion, casting an observing look at his oldest daughter. "Kasumi? You appear to be limping, is something the matter?"

Kasumi looked down at her toes as though they would provide an answer that she could live with. "I suffered a minor bruise on my leg yesterday, Father. I think that I should have Dr. Tofu look at it."

"Akane, you go on to school. I think that I will help Kasumi to Dr. Tofu's today." Soun stepped up to support his eldest child, dropping his newspaper as he did so.

Akane noticed that Kasumi looked genuinely surprised at Soun's declaration, and it took her sister a moment to find her voice. "Are you sure father? I mean, you haven't left the house in such a long time. Do you really wish to go?"

"Why, yes, Kasumi. I think that maybe it's time for me to get back out into the world... and if we should encounter Saotome or his son, well, he will simply have to explain himself." Soun clenched his fist as a dark aura surrounded him, demonstrating his thoughts more accurately than his words might have.

Akane got up and ran out of the house, the tears were threatening to come again, and she had to be strong if she was going to do this. Her father hated Mr. Saotome now, could she still get him to go along with the engagement? And if she could, could she get Ranma to? _Wait a minute, of course I can, I just have to meet up with Ranma. I can get him back from Ukyo, I know I can._

Akane took off towards Furinkan high. Her mind was a chaotic mesh of hopes and memories, but with a little luck she was certain she could work things out.

---

Passing through the gates, Akane marveled once again at the sheer quiet that enveloped the town. Kodachi had put a stop to Kuno's daily assault, she remembered, claiming that it would interfere with her constant challenges directed at Akane. In a sense, it had, as Akane had started using the horde to hone her rhythmic gymnastic combat skills. The Black Rose had not been happy when she lost three matches in a row.

Still, that was just one more thing that had changed because of Ranma's absence, which was becoming more pronounced to Akane the more she wandered through town. There hadn't been one explosion that she could hear all morning, nobody crying out for vengeance or screaming in bloodcurdling rage.

It was kind of unnerving.

As if sensing her thoughts, a window on the second floor blasted outward with a shriek of energy. Akane leapt backward to avoid the falling body that had been cast outside by the energy ball, the bag of panties strapped its back cushioning it from most of the damage the fall should've caused.

Happosai wobbled for a moment, looking for all the world like some poor defenseless turtle that had been thrown onto his back, before rolling to his feet and dusting himself off. "Insolent wench," he muttered. "I gave her those powers damnit, and I'd take 'em away if I had the arm span for it."

Akane took advantage of the ancient pervert's brief pause to punt him off into the distance, his scream as he flew away having a calming effect on her disposition. There was no malice in her action, it just helped her to feel a little bit closer to normal for a moment.

---

Entering her classroom, Akane found the teacher already buried in a lecture on the cultural significance of Yu Yu Hakusho and its inherent  
symbolism regarding the industrial revolution and the parallels between it and Dante's Divine Comedy.

"Ms. Tendo, you no longer have any excuse for being late to class." Without looking away from the elaborate Botan illustration he was  
making on the crowded blackboard, he raised his hand and pointed towards the doorway behind her. "Buckets, hall, now, etcetera."

As Professor Fujisawa returned to the lecture, Akane did a quick scan of the room and its occupants before she grasped the punishment that had been assigned to her and headed out into the hall. As she stood, passively supporting the weight of the water, she replayed the rapid onceover of the classroom in her mind's eye. Yuka and Sayuri were staring at her as though being late was the strangest thing in the world, Hiroshi and Daisuke had been half-asleep, and Ranma hadn't been in there.

Akane ran through the image several times. Ranma wasn't in there. Ukyo had been, and if what Urd had told her was correct Ranma should've been with her, but he wasn't. It didn't make any sense. Suddenly, a commotion from down the hall distracted her from her train of thought.

"Dammit Kuno! I don't got time to deal with you right now!"

Ranma leapt out into the intersection a short distance away from Akane, the sight causing her breath to catch in her throat and her heart to stop beating for a moment, he was followed closely by a bokken that seemed intent on removing his head or a different body part.

"Silence, wretch! I shall free my goddesses from thy vile tyranny."

Kuno swung his bokken in a low arc, attempting to remove Ranma's legs. Ranma leapt over the swing and planted a foot in Kuno's face, sending the kendoist backwards through a wall into one of the Home Economics classes. Several girls carrying trays of cookies peered out into the corridor through the large void that now graced one of their classroom walls.

"I really hope you know that people don't talk like that no more." Ranma shook his head and sighed, "What a moron."

Turning around, the pig-tailed boy caught sight of a clock on the wall, screaming in surprise at the time it displayed. "Dammit, Kuno!" He turned and jetted down a different hallway, "Now I'm really late!" Ranma's voice faded as he sped down the hall toward his own classroom.

A memory of Nabiki and a fateful coin toss came to Akane at that moment, and her buckets made a clanking noise as she placed them on the floor to begin following in the direction of the pig-tailed boy. No sooner had she started to run than a high-pitched voice rang out a few feet behind her.

"Happo five-yen satsu, you delinquent!"

Akane turned, a question dying on her lips as the world around her began to grow dark, a severe lack of ki sending her into deep unconsciousness. She didn't even see the ten year-old behind her become a shapely twenty-four year old woman.

---

Shinnosuke ran through the streets of Nerima, periodically shifting his gaze to the left like a swimmer gasping for breath, keeping the boy with the bandanna and the umbrella in sight. As he approached the end of the avenue on which he was sprinted, knowing that he would soon be forced to turn, a thought occured to him.

_Am I chasing this guy?_

A bandanna whizzed by the forgetful boy's face, leaving a thin cut across his cheek from which a lone drop of blood escaped.

_Nope, it looks like he's chasing me_.

Shinnosuke continued running, blocking some projectiles with his broom and dodging others. Ryoga, only slightly winded from his run, and the eight day hike across Japan that had preceded it, screamed at his adversary as he pursued him. "I may not know your name, but I saw what you did. How dare you hurt her feelings that way?"

"Whose feelings?" Shinnosuke shouted back. "Who are you?"

"Don't feign ignorance!"

"I'm not feigning anything." Arriving the cross-street, Shinnosuke turned right, away from the lost boy.

Still angry and overeager, Ryoga turned left, away from Shinnosuke, shouting in fury as he tore off into the hazy afternoon. "Don't you run away from me, you'll pay for toying with her that way!" No longer able to see his prey, as it had vanished behind him, Ryoga stormed onward in pursuit. _Damnit! Where did he go?_

Propping himself up with his broom, Shinnosuke slowed to a walk as he moved through the street, stopping only when he realized he had no idea where he was.

"That's strange, I could've sworn I was doing something. I was... talking to a girl?" A young woman's face appeared in his mind, but he could not quite place her name before the image faded. He reached a hand up, brushing a small trickle of blood from his face. "And why am I bleeding?"

He pondered that for a moment before dismissing the concept.

"Oh well, it can't have been that important."

Continuing to walk, Shinnosuke enjoyed the bright sunshine, stopping to smell the roses that lined the small street.

---

Ranma slept through most of his classes, which was not unusual, but he woke up when he heard everyone heading out for lunch, and that was a little out of the ordinary. Following the crowd he soon found himself outside, taking up his usual spot under a tree, and waiting for Ukyo. It took a few minutes before she joined him, her omnipresent spatula strapped to her back. She was waving, chuckling giddily as she jogged toward him.

"So Ranchan, pleasant dreams in class?"

"Not really, been feeling kinda weird all day."

"I could hear you snoring in my classroom, that's quite a distance you know, and you have a very distinctive snore."

Ranma shrugged in response, enjoying a few bites of the okonomiyaki his fiancee had prepared. "I don't know Ucchan, you ever get the feeling that there's something out of place. Like something doesn't belong?"

"Like what?"

"Well, for instance there's..." A loud crashing, and the splintering of stone echoed across the yard. "..that." Ranma finished his sentence just  
as a purple blur appeared, taking the form of Shampoo, and latched onto him.

"Airen!" The purple-haired Amazon squealed with delight as she rubbed her body against the pig-tailed boy. She retrieved a small box  
from the grass near her feet, pushing the bowl of ramen it contained into Ranma's face. The noodles smelled delicious, and the hopeful look in the Amazon's eyes ate away at Ranma's resolve. After all, he was still hungry.

"Shampoo bring lunch!" The smile on the purple-haired girl's face faltered only slightly as she took in Ukyo's presence.

The bowl holding the ramen split evenly down the middle, one of Ukyo's smaller spatulas passing neatly through its center, spilling the soupy liquid down Shampoo's hands. The purple-haired girl yelped in pain as the scalding ramen contacted her skin, shaking her hands to scatter the steaming broth, and slurping what remained of the lunch she had prepared off her fingers as she glared at her rival.

"Oops, my hand slipped." Ukyo's grin had little warmth in it. She was not pleased that Shampoo was once again attempting to drug, poison or otherwise herbally affect her fiance. "He's not hungry, bimbo. Not for your food anyway." She gracefully removed her larger spatula from its holster, leveling it threateningly. "Now why don't you run home to granny?"

"Spatula girl keep Shampoo and Husband from being together, yes?"

"You bet your life I do."

"Okay!" Shampoo grinned happily, producing her bonbori and bringing it down toward Ukyo's head in a swift arc. The cheerful look, however, vanished when she found her weapon blocked by her opponent's large kitchen untensil, and her eyes turned to steely concentration as the two traded attacks back and forth.

Ukyo's spatula blocked again and the chef spun in a circle, bringing the large peel around behind her and using the loop on the weapon's handle to ensnare one of Shampoo's maces. In one smooth motion, she disarmed the Amazon's left hand. At the same time, one of her throwing spatulas appeared in the opposite palm, blocking an incoming attacking from the other bonbori. Unfortunately, this series of maneuvers let Shampoo get in close enough to drive her knee toward Ukyo's back.

A deft block resulted in the chef's favorite spatula now having an obtuse bend in the haft, forcing her to roll forward to absorb the impact. With an angry roar, she planted her feet and reversed direction, bringing the flat edge down toward Shampoo in an deadly arc.

The new bend in the handle of her weapon, coupled with Shampoo's catlike grace, caused her to hit slightly to the right of the Amazon, piercing a buried lawn sprinkler as she did so and dousing the purple-haired girl with a cascade of cold water.

Shaking what droplets she could from her hair and clothes, the Amazon leveled the remaining bonbori at her opponent who was vainly attempting to wrench her buried spatula free of the dirt and mud.

"You miss."

_Crap,_ Ukyo thought. The edge of her baker's peel had caught on the water pipes below ground, making it more difficult than she'd expected to pull her weapon loose.

Shampoo's eyes narrowed. "Panda say Ranma marry Shampoo, not spatula girl, now see why." Raising the bonbori over her head, the Amazon brought the weapon down toward her rival. "Spatula girl weak!"

---

**Ten months ago...**

"I'm a girl, Shampoo, do you get it now?" Ranma pulled open her shirt, exposing her chest for the Amazon's inspection. From behind the counter and grill, Ukyo looked on in horror.

"Ranchan, what are you doing? She'll kill you!"

Seeing the purple-haired girl raise her bonbori, the redhead closed her eyes, bracing for impact.

The sound of the balloon mace hitting the hard floor of the restaurant was the only noise that came. When Ranma's eyes opened, she saw tears coursing down Shampoo's face, and a look of unspeakable sadness across her features. Closing the distance between herself and the redhead, her eyes downcast, the warrior spoke slowly and softly to the pig-tailed girl.

"Bie liao," was all the Amazon said before she turned and fled.

"Shampoo?" Ranma stared after her in shock, her body acting almost of its own accord as she began to follow the running girl. A hand on her arm stopped her forward motion, and as her eyes fell on the limb and tracked it back to its source, she was astonished to see tears beginning to trickle from her fiancee's eyes as well.

"Ranchan, don't go. Don't follow her, you don't know what will happen. She could try and kill you again."

"Ucchan, I can't just let her run off like that."

Ukyo's arms wound around the petite redhead, enveloping her almost completely in a vicelike grip. "Please don't go, Ranchan. I don't want to lose you, not again."

Without words, Ranma returned the crushing hug she was recieving, though her eyes continued to stare off into the night after Shampoo.

---

Tears clouding her vision, the proud Amazon ran without direction, care, or restraint. Walls became dust as she sprinted through them, not even slowed by the hard stone that seemed to surround so many of Nerima's homes. As she rounded the corner past the clinic she had worked at only briefly, her thoughts turned to what she should do now.

She couldn't stay, that was out of the question. She would forever be confronted by the girl that was the man she loved, the one she was sworn to kill but could not bring herself to harm. She needed advice, from someone wise, someone who always knew what the appropriate course of action was.

She needed her great-grandmother, and that meant returning to China.

As she turned to leave the city, a large claw grasped the back of her shirt and pulled her into a nearby alley. A black and white paw shoved a wooden sign into her face as she scrambled to pound the mugger, rapist, or whatever.

'He's a boy, not a girl,' the sign read.

Shampoo looked skeptical as she eyed the bear before her. "What Panda talking?"

Genma examined the purple-haired warrior in front of him. What he was about to do was a gamble, one that might prove impossible to correct if it didn't work out, but he was ready to admit it was a necessary one. As long as Ukyo was in the picture there was no way he could approach Soun. His old friend would be dining on Panda steak as soon as the facts came out.

Shampoo was attractive enough, in a teenage way, and a fighter of no small ability, she was just the type to get Ranma away from Ukyo, and with a claim as flimsy as an Amazon law, and nobody to back her up, she could be easily dismissed once she'd served her purpose. Then he and the boy would be off to the Tendos.

He needed Shampoo to stay in Nerima, and that meant she had to know the truth. 'The curse is triggered by cold water, hot water returns us to normal. Ranma's really a boy, I can prove it!'

"Ranma man?"

The panda nodded rapidly, and a look of realization came into the young girl's eyes. Ranma was a man, that meant she didn't have to kill him, probably, though she still had to ask her great-grandmother to be sure. The dumbstruck girl sagged against the side of the alley as thoughts and emotions poured through her brain until a second realization came to her.

Grasping the oversized raccoon by his fur, Shampoo glared into Genma's eyes with burning intensity. "Why Ranma lie Shampoo?"

Another sign was produced. 'He was protecting the other girl.' The sign in his paw turned around to expose its other side, also covered in written characters. 'If you can get her to leave, he will be free to marry his true fiancee.'

"If spatula girl go, Ranma marry Shampoo?"

'Sure, whatever.'

With a vicious backhand, Shampoo sent the Panda flying into a nearby brick wall, a thoughtful look appearing in her eyes as she gazed back toward the restaurant where she had left Ranma and the other girl. _Ranma's a man._

This changed everything.

'Ouch.'

---

Cologne smiled around the long-stemmed pipe in her mouth, puffing out a smoke ring which joined several others in a halo above her head as she read the letter from her great-granddaughter. Apparently, the red-haired woman she'd been following was a young man as skilled in combat as Shampoo herself.

The elaborate message went on to detail not only the curse of Jusenkyo, but also her intentions to pursue Ranma as a husband and the implicit blessing Shampoo had recieved from the boy's father. Another young woman stood in the way, apparently, and was no slouch in the art of combat herself, but such things could be dealt with if necessary.

Her crinkled voice rang out, summoning the blind boy who was so infatuated with her heir, and Mousse appeared before her.

"Pack my bags, boy, we're going on a little journey."

It was just as well that this information had come to light when it had. If Shampoo had returned unsuccessfully from her quest she would've needed retraining, probably at Jusenkyo, and that could have been tragic in its own right.

---

**Present day...**

Akane woke to find herself in the infirmary. The last thing she remembered was a little girl in a yellow dress calling her a delinquent. _Ms. Hinako. That's just wonderful, now I probably missed Ranma at lunchtime._ She glanced up at the clock. _No, not quite,  
there's still a few minutes left._ Of course, she'd missed the first half of school while recovering, but that didn't seem important.

Standing up, wobbling a little, Akane scanned the room to find Tatewaki Kuno, Blue Thunder of Furinkan high, lying down on one of the beds and clutching his head as if to ward off an evil spirit. He was not quite conscious yet, which gave her a few minutes to better assess her surroundings.

A sound, a loud crashing noise followed by shouting, drew Akane's attention to the window which overlooked the schoolyard. There stood Ukyo, her spatula at the ready, facing off against Shampoo. As the young Tendo watched, the chef drove her spatula into the ground, causing a gout of water to erupt and conceal the Amazon from view. When the Amazon emerged a second later, still human, Akane found herself unable to breath.

As she watched, Shampoo brought her bonbori down toward Ukyo's head, a blow that would in all likelihood crush the chef's skull, but Ranma interceded. Though she could not hear the words that were spoken, she could tell he was berating the Amazon for actually trying to harm someone. Shampoo shouted something back at him, gesturing to the spatula still buried in the ground a few feet away from her, probably challenging Ranma's excuse, whatever it was.

Reflexively, Akane's fist came up and backhanded Kuno in the nose as stood from his bed and came over to the window. The young samurai flew backward into the wall, leaving a kendoist-shaped hole in the school's clinic.

"Sometimes I wonder how our pathetic little high school can afford all the construction bills you seem to accrue, Akane." Nabiki stepped around into the entrance of the infirmary, nonchalantly brushing some errant plaster from the shoulder of her uniform. "Well, you and Saotome, at any rate."

Akane blushed as she noticed the Kuno-shaped crater she had created with such a relatively weak attack, or so the muscles in her arm told her, perhaps she should be more concerned at the newfound skill she possessed.

---

Akane walked down the street with Nabiki, mulling over what little information she had managed to accumulate throughout the day. She would definitely need to contact Urd and straighten some things out._ Maybe I should stop by the Ucchan and see Ranma. I mean, I'd  
just have to make sure that I don't give anything away. All it takes is a little self-control when I'm talking to him or Ukyo. I'll be fine_.

Her smile faltered as she remembered the way Ranma had defended Ukyo, it was the same kind of offhand way that he would've protected her. She hadn't been prepared for just how hard it was to see him act that way toward someone else.

Out of the corner of her eye, Nabiki saw her younger sister's mood turn sullen and her steps suddenly become that much heavier. Something was up, and she didn't know what it was. Not good. "So Akane, how was it you were drained by Ms. Hinako anyway? You're never late anymore, not since Kodachi stopped her brother's little challenge, and I've never known you to get in trouble during class. So what happened?"

Akane was slightly startled at the question. "Oh, I was just thinking about something. I was a little distracted, otherwise the little brat never would have been able to drain me." She clapped a hand over her mouth, shocked at her own words, she would never disrespect a teacher that way. She was slipping into that other Akane, her new memories dictating her behavior, Urd had warned her about that sort of thing happening.

Nabiki either didn't notice or didn't comment, continuing her previous line of questions. "Oh, and what was it that distracted you?"

Blushing a brilliant scarlet, the younger girl dismissed her sister's question with a wave of her hand, but Nabiki was not to be placated so easily. Silently, the middle Tendo vowed to keep a closer eye on her younger sister. If what she thought was going on was going on, steps would have to be taken.

A loud masculine shriek emerged from the dojo as the two drew near, accompanied by the front gate bursting open as Shinnosuke fled the  
compound. The forgetful boy was oddly dressed, wearing what could only be described as half of a tuxedo, with his shoes and pants conspicuously absent. Upon spotting the two Tendo sisters, a fevered looked came into his eyes as he attempted to remember their names. "You there, please, help me, she's insane!"

Nabiki did her best not to laugh out loud. "Who's insane?"

A ribbon snaked out through the gate and wrapped itself around Shinnosuke's frightened form, effectively gagging and restraining him  
simultaneously.

"Nevermind," Nabiki said. "Akane, she's your friend, can you deal with this?" The middle daughter turned the corner, striding confidently past Kodachi's calm and collected face as the wealthy girl reeled in her catch.

With a slight tilt of her head, the gymnast acknowledged the mercenary's presence. "Nabiki-san."

"Black Rose."

Akane warily peered around the Tendo gate, fearing what she might find in the entryway to her home. There stood Kodachi Kuno,  
wearing a beautiful and obviously expensive kimono, the very picture of Japanese nobility. The image was spoiled somewhat by Shinnosuke's bound and, now, unconscious form.

"Good, Akane-chan, you've returned, now you must help me." Kodachi grasped her friend by the arm, dragging her into the house  
while Shinnosuke trailed behind on the ground. "You might recall the troubles I have been having with that fiendish Saginomiya tart, and  
while I have successfully postponed our competition for nearly a week now at your behest, Shinnosuke still refuses to cooperate."

A deep sigh oozed from the Black Rose as she gazed at the forgetful boy's bound form. "When I visited him this afternoon to entreaty his aid one final time he still did not recall my name, it is most disheartening. Yet I persevere, and shall have him properly dressed to escort me to Asuka's sound and excruciatingly pleasant defeat."

The ribbon slackened, unraveling itself from Shinnosuke's body and returning to Kodachi's hand, where she secreted it on her  
person once again. Akane continued to stare in mute shock at the scene she was witnessing, trying vainly to comprehend the snippets  
of memory that were surfacing in conjunction with Kodachi's words.

_But Asuka showed up already, the competition was only a few days ago, right before Ranma and Daddy brought the powersuit back here_.

A new memory came to the fore, of a Kodachi who sought Akane's aid when the strange foe emerged, and an Akane who advised her to  
delay the duel, and use Shinnosuke if no other prospects emerged.

Apparently, Kodachi had taken her advice.

The gymnast's arm snaked around Akane's shoulders, drawing her into a conspiratorial whisper. "Now, Akane-chan, I know you are not able to sew..." Kodachi trailed off as she thought about her statement for a moment. "...or cook, or clean, or dance," a large vein throbbed on the youngest Tendo's forehead as her friend's laundry list continued. "Or swim, or draw, or do any of those myriad things which require femininity, grace, or a creative nature."

The gymnast smiled at Akane. "But you are always able to look well dressed, regardless of your pathetic financial circumstances, and it is that skill for which I have a use at the moment. It is imperative that Shinnosuke look his best for our date, and while you are taking care of that I shall see to it that Asuka's escort is properly disposed of."

Kodachi leapt away, out of the living room and over the wall that surrounded the Tendo compound, the blizzard of black petals that Akane had been expecting never came.

Nabiki's voice came from the stairway. She too had seen the Black Rose's exit. "At least she doesn't do that scary laugh anymore."

Another memory came to Akane, the flower petals and the laughter had ceased about two months ago, the same time Kodachi had stopped hinting at her mysterious boyfriend and pounded Akane flat in nearly ten straight sparring matches. The Black Rose hadn't laughed since.

Remembering the vow she had given her friend, the youngest Tendo awoke Shinnosuke as gently as she could before proceeding to  
explain the situation to him. He did not wear the tuxedo naturally, and did not look nearly as dashing as Akane remembered Ranma being  
when he wore the same outfit, but Shinnosuke was handsome enough in his own right.

With any luck, things would end in a draw after Asuka revealed the same supernaturally beautiful man Akane remembered from her own  
experience, but who knew what the demented White Lily could cook up with an extra week to plan?

---

Ranma eyed the package on the counter warily, wondering who would send him something so elaborately wrapped. The tag had no name  
on it other than his own, and he had come to be somewhat untrusting of mysterious presents.

However, he wasn't one to just toss away something that he'd gotten for free, no matter what it was. _It's probably just from a female fan or something like that. Hell, it might even be food!_

His decision made, the pig-tailed boy removed the lid of the package, finding only a notecard and a small flower inside.

Ranma's eyes tracked along the elaborate calligraphy on the card, widening as they moved across the text. "Be my boyfriend?" His voice cracked in hungry rage as he examined the flower that had been included. "What the hell is this crap?"

Then the white lily exploded into a cloud of knockout gas.

---

End chapter 4

Next:

Chapter 5: The Breaking of the Black Rose


	5. Chapter 5: Breaking of the Black Rose

Shinnosuke was gone for the moment, Kodachi having hauled him off for safekeeping while she awaited whatever plot Asuka had devised.  
It wouldn't do to have the forgetful boy be set on fire or otherwise incapacitated before the competition was over, and as long as he was away from the Black Rose that seemed a likely outcome.

Immediately after the two had left for their date, as Kodachi had called it to confuse Shinnosuke, Akane's room had blasted apart in a mad quest for the small card that Urd had entrusted to her. Fortunately, Kasumi had not yet laundered the clothing that had accumulated over the last two days, and within a few minutes the silver-haired Goddess of the past was sitting on top of the television answering the youngest Tendo's questions.

"Things tend toward a certain path, Akane-chan, some people are destined to do certain things, perform certain actions, some are fated to cross paths in one way or another, and still others will never meet at all. You changed your fate, Akane-chan."

Before Akane's atonished eyes, a large flat pane of glass materialized under Urd's outstretched hands. "Watch," the Goddess commanded. At a gesture from the bronze-skinned woman, a small ding appeared in the clear sheet, as if a tiny pebble had bounced off it at a high speed. A multitude of small, weblike cracks spread out from from the pockmark, splintering the surface of the plane.

Urd gestured several more times, each time creating tiny scars in the glass, always at the point of a crack created by the previous one. "The bigger or more important the event, the more cracks are created, the more possible outcomes exist. This is somewhat of a cliched explanation, but it's still one of the better ones I can give you."

The Goddess' hand swept over the tableau, highlighting each of the tiny pivot points with a light green glow. "This is the way things were for you, but now..." As the young Tendo watched, the first pockmark in the sheet of glass began to flow slightly upward, and the spiderweb of cracks it had formed flowed with it. "This is the way things are. Notice that every single event after the first changed as well, but only slightly, they don't want to move if they don't have to. Your wish shaped the first change, moved it,and realigned it almost completely, the others merely followed suit."

Understanding somewhat, Akane nodded, but a thought and a memory continued to nag at her. "Then shouldn't Shampoo still be cursed, if things tend to turn out similar, I mean."

"That I blame on Ranma's father." Urd shrugged, and the flat pane vanished from in front of her. "Other than Happosai and Ranma he's the only human I know of who can throw a monkey wrench into the workings of the universe like that at will," she grumbled.

"So, Urd, is there any hope for me and Ranma? Is there any way I can get him back from Ukyo?"

Reaching forward, the Goddess cupped Akane's chin with one hand, using the other to wipe away the tears that were beginning to form in the young woman's eyes. "There is always hope, Akane-chan, and as a Goddess of Love I plan to see to it that you and Ranma find happiness."

A moment of silence passed between the two as Akane nodded gratefully to the powerful woman before her, the quiet continuing until Urd glanced at a nearby clock.

"Speaking of which, Akane-chan, if you want to jumpstart things, I'd suggest following Kodachi along on her little date. Time is of the essence, and every little minute counts. Besides, I need a drink."

With a gasp, and some murmured thanks, the youngest Tendo ran for the door in pursuit of the Black Rose and the White Lily. Watching her charge leave the house, Urd gave a melancholy look to her surroundings and fled through the television set.

From her hiding place outside the living room, Nabiki sat in stunned silence as the full weight of the conversation between Akane and the other woman settled over her like a lead blanket. Wishes? Curses? Goddesses? Changing the past?

Nabiki slowly slid down to the floor, her back flat against the wall, and pulled her knees up to her chest.

"Akane, what did you do?"

---

A Wish Come True, Part 5: The Breaking of the Black Rose

A Ranma fanfiction by Brian

---

The gates of the Kuno mansion opened almost before Akane reached them, and out stepped Kodachi and Shinnosuke. Whether they were dressed for a funeral or a wedding was not immediately clear, as the mournful tone of the Black Rose's gown did not rule out either possibility. The sight stopped the young Tendo in her tracks. "Kodachi, what on Earth are you wearing?"

The gymnast fiddled nervously with one of the frilly adornments to her ebony wedding dress. "Is this not what one wears on a date?" She turned to the young man on her arm. "Shinnosuke, am I dressed appropriately?"

"Who are you, again?"

Kodachi sighed sadly. "Remind me later, I shall purchase an instant camera or some such item for your daily recognizance."

"Okay, I'll remember."

Again the Black Rose heaved a deep resigned breath, she could almost see the idea leaving the young man's eyes as his attention wandered. "Come along,Shinnosuke, we don't want to be late or I may have to set Asuka's hair on fire." She put a finger to her cheek in thought as they began walking. "On second thought, I may do that anyway. Are you coming along, Akane-chan?"

The long-haired girl in question hurried her steps, keeping time with the couple in front of her, a smile quirking at her lips as she walked alongside her friends.

"I wouldn't miss this for the world."

---

The restaurant was quiet, which not unusual for the middle of the week, but it put Ukyo on edge just the same.Absently, she poured batter onto the grill for one of the three customers that were there, entering the zen state of cooking.

_Ranchan should be home by now._

Worry began to gnaw away her as the minutes passed and customers flowed in and out of her awareness. Ranma always came right back to her restaurant after school unless there was a duel or an important fight, and he always told her when there was going to be one of those.  
She told herself she was being silly, and that her fiancee would be home any time now, but as she watched her patronage dwindle, the little nagging doubt in the back of her mind continued to burn away her resolve. Overall, the odds favored that something bad had happened or would be happening very soon.

The last time Ranma came home late he'd accidentally beaten up that Akari girl's sumo pig and she'd tried to haul him off to a wedding chapel. Before that had been those Amazon twins, with their power over plants that still gave Ukyo the occasional nightmare. The time before that, he was fighting some strange giant minotaur creature that was actually just pissed off at the old pervert.

Ukyo fumed at the memory of Tarou, and the resultant kidnapping, as she shooed the last of her customers outside and closed up the Ucchan. Ranma was somewhere in Nerima and he was in trouble, whether he would admit it or not, and it was her duty as his fiancee to rescue him.

---

Trudging through mile after mile of jungle got old after a while, as Ryoga had discovered throughout his life, and as he swung his razor-sharp belt to hack away at the underbrush around him he couldn't help but reflect on that fact.

_How many forests have I walked through in the last year? How many deserts? Are there even that many forests and deserts in Japan?_

A large tree fell before him, a single stroke of the lost boy's weapon proving too much for the aged wonder, and Ryoga found himself in a small clearing. The tranquility that had been overtaking him at the beauty of the spot was interrupted as his stomach made its presence known, and he began foraging for what scraps he could find. After several minutes, he'd scrounged up what looked like it might make a half decent meal; some berries and nuts, several small mushrooms, and a thing that looked like a potato. Removing a few non-perishables and a small stove from his oversized backpack, Ryoga set up camp.

As the sounds and smells of grilling food filled his nostrils, memories of recent weeks flowed through him. Sitting back on his haunches, he silently began to meditate, focusing his spirit into a blue ball that hovered just on the edge of his awareness.

Yes, things had been getting steadily worse recently. It seemed that as Ranma's good fortunes flourished and his love life grew to include even more strange and exotic women, things turned further south for Ryoga Hibiki. Since Ranma had met his latest girl, Akari something or other, Ryoga had managed to drive the one girl that he loved even farther away. _If Ranma hadn't splashed me in front of her..._ He fought down the urge to scream his frustrations out at the night, it didn't help and usually made things worse.

Reaching forward with his chopsticks, Ryoga picked up one of the small mushrooms and shoved it into his mouth, stoically munching on the meager feast before him.

A voice to his left brought the lost boy out of his meditations, interrupting his meal in the process. "Sir! Stop! Don't eat that!"

Startled, Ryoga swallowed the mushroom.

"Oh dear," said the mysterious traveller. "That's not good."

---

Ukyo planted her foot on the giant pig's snout, leaping over the beast's back as it charged toward her. From the sidelines, Akari shouted apologetically at the okonomiyaki chef.

"I'm really sorry about this Ukyo, but Ranma's father..."

"I know what he said!" the chef interrupted. _Damn that panda._

Katsunishiki brought up his hind leg, landing a solid blow to Ukyo's back as she landed, sending her into an uncontrolled tumble. The chef regained her footing as the monstrous animal brought itself around to face her, the two combatants staring each other down with grim determination.

Ukyo unsheated the large spatula on her back and brought it in front of her, readying herself for the coming battle. "I don't care if you are just some dumb animal," she leveled the tremendous utensil at the sumo pig. "When I get through with you, you're bacon"

Katsunishiki's eyes narrowed as he prepared to charge again.

---

The garden itself was a peaceful place, where people could come to admire the skills of botanists and gardeners, or enjoy the beauty of a wide selection of flowers and plants. The gazebo, placed delicately at the center of this temple to all things green, was currently occupied by a small table, with place settings for four, and five young people about to begin one of the more bizarre competitions in the history of Nerima: The Boyfriend Duel.

Asuka traced a slim finger along the faceguard of the armor her chosen was wearing, chuckling lightly at the ingenious nature of her plot. Kodachi stood across from her, looking slightly scorched after the explosives she had unleashed, toward the White Lily and her so-called boyfriend, hadn't worked out quite as she had planned. Shinnosuke groaned quietly, his clothing still smoking somewhat.

Akane reached an unsteady hand toward the forgetful boy's twitching form. "Kodachi, Asuka, maybe we should wait and do this another time."

The two girls rounded on Akane, glowing fiercely as they glared at her.

"Stay out of this, Akane-chan!"

A smirk adorned the White Lily's face as she eyed her opponent. "Are you ready, Kodachi?" She rested lightly against her armor clad escort, wrapping her arms around him possessively. "I believe you'll find my boyfriend most enticing, far moreso than the churly fool you've selected for yourself."

The Black Rose hoisted Shinnosuke back to his feet.

"1, 2, 3, duel!"

Asuka daintily removed the helmet from the suit of armor, and with a loud crash Kodachi dropped Shinnosuke to the ground, her eyes wide with shock. Akane could only stare in amazement at the face that had been revealed.

The Black Rose was the first among them to find her voice.

"Ranma-sama?"

There stood Ranma, positively glowing and groomed to perfection, though standing awfully stiff. Akane peered closer, poking him in the forehead with one finger, but saw no movement from the pigtailed boy. Asuka slapped the long-haired girl's hand away without glancing at her, maintaining eye contact with Kodachi.

"I did a little research, Kodachi, and you want him, don't you? I could see it in your eyes. Why you desire this fool, I do not know, but he's mine now, and you can't have him."

Kodachi broke away, casting her gaze to the ground as hot tears poured from her eyes and memories flashed through her mind. Unwillingly, she relived the breaking of her world, and remembered why the laughter stopped.

---

**Two months ago...**

Ukyo urged her fiancee forward, a bound and gagged Ryoga knelt on the floor next to them, and Kodachi stood before the group looking confused.

"I don't know about this Ucchan, it don't seem fair." The pigtailed boy nervously scratched the back of his neck as Kodachi leered at him hungrily.

When Ukyo handed the bucket of water to Ranma, the chains holding Ryoga threatened to shatter, and certainly would have if he'd had any leverage, but Ukyo had enough experience with her yakisoba that she could effectively tie the lost boy up.

"It's for the best, Ranchan. She needs to know."

Ranma dug his foot into the restaurant's tile floor, looking down at the ground as he launched the explanation of Jusenkyo and the countless magical springs that could be found there.

The Black Rose dismissed the idea with a haughty laugh and a wave of her hand. "Myths and nonsense designed to ward off the local peasants, or savages like that Shampoo barbarian, such suspicions do not become one such as yourself, Ranma-sama."

With curious eyes, Kodachi watched as Ranma hefted a bucket of water in one hand, suspending it above Ryoga's restrained form.

"Ranma, don't you dare!" The lost boy had managed to eat through his gag and was shrieking objections and obscenities at his rival. "You can't do this Ranma, you have no right, not in front of Kodachi, please!"

The pig-tailed boy's hand wavered, and he turned once more to gaze at his fiancee, his Ucchan, a question of uncertainty in his eyes

"It'll be okay, Ranchan, what he's done to her isn't right and she deserves to know the truth."

"What are these fools babbling about, Ranma-sama? What truth?"

The bucket tipped, the icy liquid dousing Ryoga and causing him to shrink. A small black form wiggled free from the chains that had fallen loosely around it, and when the piglet's eyes fell on Kodachi they grew wide.

Eyes wide with fear, Kodachi leaned closer, examining the tiny animal with an astonished gaze. It was the pig she'd adopted after the first gymnastics match with Akane, there was no question, and though she had originally intended to feed it to Midorigame something about the creature stayed her hand.

She had kept it for herself, instead, calling it Kuro-chan and keeping it in her room away from the traps and dangers of the rest of the mansion. Though its peculiar habit of wandering off had annoyed her she could admit to herself that she had grown to enjoy the tiny creature's company.

"Kuro-chan is that Ryoga boy? No, it cannot be." She backpedaled away from the tiny piglet, falling onto her rear and scooting up against the far wall constantly denying the spectacle she had just witnessed. "It cannot be, magic isn't real, it doesn't exist, these things do not happen."

Ryoga shied away from Kodachi's huddled and muttering form, hiding behind one of Ukyo's legs as she and Ranma moved forward. "There are a lot of springs at Jusenkyo, Kodachi. The spring of drowned pig, drowned panda, drowned man."

Kodachi began laughing madly as the pig-tailed boy stepped closer, there had been a panda occasionally, she'd seen it, and the pig she had known for so long had just appeared before her eyes. The laughter began building in volume and pitch, and Ukyo was again thankful that the inside of the restaurant was somewhat soundproof.

"And the spring of drowned girl."

The Black Rose's laughter reached a fever pitch as she stared at Ranma, who was holding another bucket in his hands. She began to shake her head violently, hoping that she could deny what she was about to see. As the water cascaded down Ranma's body, and it slowly took on a more feminine appearance, the laughter that had been bubbling up through Kodachi's throat ceased itself entirely, as though it had never been.

"Pig-tailed girl." It was a whisper, like a sword being drawn.

Kodachi stood, calmly, and walked up to the redhead, cupping her face with her hands, squeezing her breasts, and otherwise examining her for any signs of fraud or deception, signs she knew she would not find.

Then she hauled off and punched Ranma in the face.

The unexpected attack sent the already embarassed pig-tailed girl sprawling into the side of the grill. Ukyo leapt to her fiancee's defense, imposing herself between Ranma and the Black Rose. With quiet intensity, Kodachi's ribbon disarmed the okonomiyaki chef and a few thrown clubs forced the cook backward, nearly tripping her over the fallen redheaded girl.

With a downward glance, Kodachi stopped her offensive and locked eyes with Ranma. "Listen well, Ranma-sama, for I am about to tell you something of great import to myself and my honor. This trespass, this lie you and the peasant Ukyo have perpetrated against me, will not be easily forgiven and will never be forgotten."

She punctuated her declaration by stepping on Ryoga's tiny body, and kicking his now still form into Ranma's stomach. "I love you, Ranma-sama, and I will have you whether you wish it or no. Do not forget that."

With the calm of the sea, Kodachi left the Ucchan. No storm of rose petals, no crackling laughter to herald her exit, merely a door sliding shut with a soft click.

---

Akane nimbly vaulted through another series of hoops, landing a solid kick into her friend's ribcage, which went unnoticed by the Black Rose. A club appeared in the gymnast's hand and soundly thudded the youngest Tendo's skull, sending her to the floor a loud crash.

"Get up, Akane-chan, we aren't yet finished."

Struggling to her feet, Akane assumed a defensive stance across from her sparring partner, barely dodging a thrown club as she rose. "Good lord, Kodachi, what happened? You're never this angry when you fight, you're always laughing and dancing around."

"Shut up and fight!" The Black Rose bounded forward, extending her heel in an attempt to remove Akane's head, but the long-haired girl rolled away from the attack and retaliating with a sweeping kick.

Kodachi didn't even notice, taking the hit without flinching, as she devastated Akane's ribcage with a series of clubs and a ball. Akane collapsed after the onslaught, gasping for air as her diaphragm attempted to recover. She managed to gasp out words between sharp intakes of air.

"Ko-chan, tell me what's wrong"

"Never!" Kodachi screamed and began pummeling Akane's prone from with forceless kicks. "How dare he, how dare he, how dare he!" The litany continued, though there was so little power behind Kodachi's feet that the Tendo heir felt it would be better for her friend to simply vent than to try and stop her.

"How dare he!" the Black Rose screamed a final time, throwing a club at the wall of the dojo and inflicting a new hole in it in the process. As the sound of splintering wood came to her ears, Kodachi's rage bled off into a deadly calm. With new eyes she took in her surrounding, noting Akane's quiet observation as she stepped lightly around the dojo, coming to a stop at the double doors which comprised the center of one wall.

With a pleasant wooden sound, the night air flowed into the training hall, and Kodachi turned back to her friend with a smile devoid of happiness. "Rest up, Akane-chan. I will return tomorrow and we shall fight again."

---

**Present day...**

"How dare he, how dare he..."

"Do you concede Kodachi? Is not my boyfriend, this Ranma person, superior to your own?" Asuka leaned forward, delighting in her opponent's downcast expression, though curious as to what exactly she was muttering to herself about.

"Ranma's paralyzed," Akane shouted in protest.

"Silence peasant girl, allow my opponent to answer for herself." The White Lily brought her face within inches of Kodachi's ear. "What say you, Black Rose? I have beaten you. Admit it."

"Asuka..." Kodachi spoke quietly, the tears refusing to stop as she kept her eyes directed at the ground. She had avoided Ranma for over a month, hoping if she avoided him for a time her feelings would change or evaporate, but seeing him now had brought all her adoration and love back even more powerfully than before. At last, the Black Rose managed to look her rival in the eye, and scream.

"Asuka, you whore!"

The black wedding dress flew away, revealing Kodachi's battle leotard, as she leapt toward Asuka and wrapped her hands around the White Lily's throat. Akane lifted the drugged Ranma out of the way as her friend tackled the other girl to the ground, proceeding to pound the back of her head against the wooden floor of the gazebo.

Reaching around her enraged opponent, Asuka jabbed one of her lilies into the small of Kodachi's back, delivering a strong surge of electricity into the gymnast's petite frame. As the pain hit, the Black Rose clawed out with her hands, ripping open a small gash on the left side of Asuka's face that spanned the distance from the outside of her eye to the side of her mouth.

As the two combatants rolled away, and Akane began dragging Ranma out of immediate danger, Asuka shrieked in rage, catching sight of the mark upon her beauty in a nearby mirror. The two rivals leapt at each other, Asuka using all the tricks she knew to strike at her foe, and Kodachi fighting with none of her usual grace or fluidity, lashing out toward her enemy like a feral beast.

Throwing the armored young man across her shoulders, Akane began moving away from the field of battle. Kodachi could take care of herself, and she needed to get Ranma out of there so he could recover from whatever Asuka had done to him. As she exited the large botanical garden, an ice cream shop came into view and Akane felt drawn to the place.

The customers and employees didn't bat an eye as she entered, with the young armorclad man across her back, deposited Ranma in a booth and occupied the seat opposite him.

As she leafed through her pockets to see what she could afford, Akane noticed that Ranma had begun blinking and twitching his mouth. If what she knew of Kodachi's poisons held true with Asuka's, that was a good sign.

Now all she had to do was wait.

---

Ukyo dropped to her knees, keeping herself from falling face-first to the ground only with the aid of her spatula. The large tool now sported several large dents and bends in the metal, beaten to the point where it was probably beyond repair. A few feet away, Katsunishiki finally fell over, the ground shuddering under the beast's tremendous weight as he slipped into unconciousness.

Akari rushed to the aid of her guardian, inspecting his bruises and scars with a trainer's eye. As she adminstered some salves and bandages the pig's wounds she spoke calmly to Ukyo without looking at her.

"I'm so sorry about this, Ukyo, really I am, if only there was another way..."

The okonomiyaki chef ignored the rest of Akari's speech, having finally managed to regain her breath after the hard-fought victory, and struggling to her feet to find Ranma. A brief threat toward a nearby vendor revealed that a mysterious blonde woman on a horse had hauled an apparently unconscious pig-tailed boy to the botanical gardens.

Now with a slightly more concrete lead, Ukyo headed away from Akari and her pig, muttering a dedicated string of curses toward her future father-in-law as she walked down the street.

---

Akane returned to the booth, laden with ice cream, finding Ranma still unable to move more than his head, though he now followed her with his eyes and a bore a skeptical expression as he spoke.

"Do I know you?"

The long-haired girl sat down across from him and looked into his eyes, seeing no spark of recognition. She'd never noticed it before, but every time she'd spoken with Ranma, every time he'd looked at her, there had been a look in his eyes that he never gave to anyone else. God, it hurt more than she thought it could, that he didn't know her at all, didn't even think she looked familiar. Tears formed at the edges of her vision, and she looked for answers in her sundae.

"Hey, don't cry, please?" The pig-tailed boy gave a lopsided grin, hoping to cheer the morose girl in front of him. "C'mon, a cute girl like you can't be crying all the time."

Akane's tears evaporated, and a look of awe appeared on her face. Ranma had called her cute, he never did that, the whole idea of it was just wrong on some fundamental level. "Sorry," she muttered, "I just... nevermind."

The pig-tailed boy rolled his eyes, girls were so weird. "Um, so thanks for getting me out of there, who are you anyway?"

"I'm Akane." The long-haired girl thought better of giving her last name, if Ranma's memory was long enough knowing she was a Tendo might dredge up some unwanted emotions. "I'm a friend of Kodachi's."

"Kodachi has friends?"

The genuine surprise in his voice was difficult for Akane to miss, and she found her old self warring with the new memories of her friendship with Kodachi. Part of her was as surprised as Ranma was, but a larger part of her wanted to punch him in the head for such an insensitive comment.

"You can be a real jerk, Ranma, you know that?"

"Hey!"

Sighing, Akane spooned the chocolate and vanilla mixture into her mouth, meditating on how best to proceed. "Just eat your ice cream."

"I can't move my arms!"

As her own snack disappeared, the young Tendo found herself staring wantonly at Ranma's sundae, and wanting to bait him at least somewhat she reached forward and took the dish. "If you don't want it, I guess I'll eat it." Akane held a spoonful of the treat inches away from her mouth, watching Ranma squirm as he saw someone threatening to eat what was rightfully his.

The long-haired girl started to laugh at the paralyzed boy's face, his eyes were wide with horror and he was practically drooling, he looked like a little lost puppy. Filling Ranma's spoon with the confection, she brought it to the boy's lips.

"Open up."

Ranma did so, and Akane shoved the spoon into his mouth, feeding him the ice cream he desired so badly. A laugh bubbled out of her at the absurdity of the scene, and Ranma found himself joining in as feeling flowed back into his arms and legs.

"Thanks," he said. "I'm starving."

"Anytime."

---

End Chapter 5

Next time:

Chapter 6, Ukyo and Akane.


End file.
